Super Nightmare
by NintendoGal55
Summary: TNBC/Super Mario crossover. Oogie Boogie is back-again! Sally falls through a door leading to the Mushroom Kingdom, Jack sets out to rescue her with the help of the Mario Bros., with much chaos to ensue.
1. The Mushroom Door

**Whoo! :D A TNBC and Super Mario crossover! Oh boy! OwO Once I post the second chapter, I'll move it to the crossover section. :D**

**I finally managed to come up with a good idea! At least, I hope I did. I just hope that you guys will enjoy it! Yes, there may seem to be some parts that are far-fetched, but do bear with me. It takes place after the movie, after the game **_**Oogie's Revenge**_**, and will also be following the canon of the soundtrack, too. **

**This story will be relatively short, but I hope you'll like it regardless.**

**Songs will be featured, either inspired by the renditions of the movie's songs that are in **_**Oogie's Revenge**_**, or one of my own. ****Oh yes, and both Mario and Luigi will be involved! So don't worry, Luigi isn't left out! :) **

**Pairings are Jack/Sally and Mario/Peach...with mentions of Luigi/Daisy. :D**

_**The Nightmare Before Christmas**_**-Tim Burton**

_**Super Mario**_**-Nintendo**

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><p><strong>Today's song is a rendition of <strong>_**In The Dark of the Night**_** from **_**Anastasia**_**. All rights reserved! I don't like the movie, but I love that song! :D It'll be the same title. :)**

_In The Dark of the Night-_Oogie Boogie, LSB, and the buggy creatures.

* * *

><p>"I hope you have a good day, Jack." Sally said softly, smiling to her beloved. "I'm sure you'll think of some amazing ideas for next Halloween..."<p>

Jack grinned widely, and gave her a hug, twirling her around a bit. "I'll do my best to prepare something dreadful, dear Sally! And then Thanksgiving! That fantastic holiday about worshiping a dead bird! Oh! Will you be all right today? I may be home a little late."

Sally nodded, and took his hands. "I'll be all right, Jack. I heard from the witches about an interesting set of mushrooms located somewhere in the woods, so I might go out and find them today. But I should be here when you get back. We can...we can sit by the fire and read together, if you want..." She suggested softly. It was one of their favourite little evening past-times.

If there was one thing Jack loved about having Sally living with him, it was definitely her seeing him off in the morning when he was to consult with the Mayor about ideas for next Halloween or any other upcoming Holiday, and coming home to her later on after a tough day's work of planning and throwing out ideas, and any other duties that he needed to fulfil. It really was nice to have someone to come home to, to spend time with and feel better about tough moments during the day.

"Splendid!" Jack grinned some more, just beaming at her. "I'm missing you already, my Sally. I'm looking forward to tonight!" Indeed it was never fun to leave her side during the day, even for just two minutes! There was just such an overwhelming need to be near her all the time, it was almost impossible to bear! Then again, it did give him something to look forward to by the day's end.

In a sweeping gesture he pulled her close yet again and kissed her, lovingly and sweetly.

Sally immediately reciprocated his sweet kiss, and brought her arms around him happily. She came closer to his bony body, eyes closing, just completely lost in the moment. Jack's kisses never failed to bring sweet happiness and joy, as well as reminding her yet again of the reality of them being together in their sweet courtship.

_It's been nearly two years, this Christmas..._ Sally couldn't help but think.

The two parted, and Jack just didn't want to let her go! He almost wanted to just toss aside his duties for the day and just be with her, cuddling her, dancing with her, snuggling, caressing her cheeks, kissing her sweet face...he just wanted to shower her with love! But no, duty called, and he had to take them seriously.

"You have a dreadfully wonderful day, Sally!" Jack let go of her, but held her little hands in his. "I love you, I love you so."

Sally felt like blushing, as she stood up on tiptoe to kiss him sweetly, then pulled back. "I love you too, Jack...you have a dreadful day, too..."

Jack sighed dreamily as he let go of her, placing his hand on the doorknob. "I don't know how I ever won't with you around." He grinned, still in a lovesick manner, and waved at her. "Goodbye, Sally!"

"Goodbye, Jack. See you tonight." Sally clasped her hands at her waist, smiling lovingly.

With one more wave, he opened the door and stepped outside, shutting the door behind him. A bounce in his step, Jack practically skipped down the stairs, headed through the gate and grinned as he saw Clown passing by on his unicycle.

"Good morning, Clown! Another horribly nice day, isn't it!" Jack said happily, waving at him.

"You said it, Jack!" Clown grinned, giving him a newly-learned thumbs-up.

"I knew you'd think so!" Jack continued on his way, and passed by the local band playing a little song, and tossed them a coin, which landed in the smaller player's saxophone.

"Thanks a ton, Bone Daddy." He said, looking at him.

"Anytime, fellas! You keep it up!" Jack said, and practically danced down the street with grace.

The other band members chuckled, shaking their heads. By now they were used to Jack usually being very cheerful in the morning, and by now, everyone knew why.

As Jack headed to the Town Hall, he exhaled and couldn't keep his goofy, lovesick grin off his face. It was hard not to feel cheerful in the morning these days, wasn't it? He supposed that being so in love really must've made him crazy. Not that he complained though, he loved the feeling.

Little did he realize just how much things could change over the course of a single day.

XXX

Rising from within the depths of the Underworld...wherever that may be, was what looked like a green mist. It floated along the graveyard, hauntingly. The ghosts were quite puzzled by this, but there was a strange feeling that emanated from within that strange, green mist that traversed around the tombstones, along the pumpkin patch, going further out toward...

The old treehouse.

It was there that the mist slowly took form, with an evil laugh escaping it, as if it were an undead creature. "Ooh-hoohoohoo..."

Inside, Lock, Shock and Barrel were currently working on a new pranking scheme. Just as always, of course.

"Why don't we turn the town's water that dreadful colour of pink?" Barrel suggested.

"Lame! Besides, we did that last week!" Lock said, kicking aside some papers. "Besides, Jack will just give us grave-digging chores again!"

"Please, Jack has gone soft!" Shock snorted. "Ever since he's been with Sally, he's just all goofy and soft all the time, singing and dancing in the middle of the street!" She made an exaggerated gagging noise. "So why worry? Obviously he's going to be too caught up in finding a new way to smother her with all his mushy feelings!"

"'Oh Sally! How I love you! Oh Sally, be my Valentine! Sally Sally...'" Lock mimicked. "Every word out of his mouth has her name in there somewhere!"

"Maybe we should do something epic! Since he's distracted with her, he won't care." Barrel suggested again, licking another lollipop.

"Hoo hoo hoo! That won't be necessary..." Came a new, but familiar voice.

Chills ran up the spines of the kids, and they huddled in the middle of the room, looking around.

"Did you guys hear that?" Lock gulped.

"I did!" Shock said.

Barrel nodded. "Uh-huh..."

"Either we're all crazy, or that was..."

"Oogie Boogie!" They all said at once.

The strange, eerie, green mist floated into the room through an open window, setting itself in view of the three shivering trick-or-treaters, and then began to take shape. It formulated, grew bigger, took on a large shape, along with dark circles and a gaping mouth. Lock, Shock and Barrel all stared with widened eyes and dropped jaws as the green mist took on the spirit form of none other than the dreadful, horrible, terrible, and completely evil...Oogie Boogie, the dreaded Boogeyman.

"Surprised to see me, kiddies?" Oogie Boogie's spirit form leered at them before laughing. "I knew you would be! It's been a while since I had my fun in running the joint, hasn't it?"

"No...you're gone! Jack defeated you!" Lock tried to sound brave, but even he was quivering like a shaken jitterbug.

"That may be...but my spirit lives on!" Oogie Boogie declared. "And you three...shall once again live to my bidding!"

The dreaded shadow fell over them as the three of them huddled together more, unable to stop the powerful forces overcoming them...

* * *

><p>A little later into the late morning, approaching the afternoon, Sally had ventured off into the woods beyond the graveyard, adorned in her traveling cloak, with her sewing basket in hand to collect the herbs and mushrooms she wanted to take home. Given what the witches had told her where to find them, she had to go northwest, and travel along until she found a tree in the shape of a monstrous spider webbing with the way its array of branches spread along. Past there would be the mushrooms she desired.<p>

_Maybe I'll even find some other new kinds of herbs I can use, too. _Sally thought, liking this prospect more and more.

Zero was with her as well, since he always made a point to go with her on excursions such as this, especially since she asked him to just about every time. Sally didn't mind, she loved when Zero would go with her. She knew it reassured Jack as well, since he trusted Zero to keep her safe. And if something happened, like some kind of an accident and Sally needed help and no one was around, Zero would be able to head back to town to find Jack or someone who could help her. It was obvious, but it made sense.

"Do you smell anything like this yet, boy?" Sally held the sample mushroom the witches had given her to use as a reference.

Sniffing it, Zero's nose lit up and he started to go on further ahead along the path toward the right. She smiled and followed after him.

_I hope Jack is doing all right, that today's work load isn't stressing him out._ She thought, lost in thought again. _I wouldn't want him to come home all stressed and tired out...but at least I'd be able to help him feel better..._

Sally smiled as she recalled one time when Jack came home after a long, long day's work, and was tired out and stressed, especially since the past two days at the time had been tiresome for the Pumpkin King. He had collapsed onto the couch, holding his head and groaning to himself. In a bold move, Sally went and sat in his lap on the couch, cuddled into him, and kissed his face. Within a few moments, Jack was all smiles and whispered sweet loving words into her ear, and thanked her for helping him feel better.

It was amazing to think that she could really make her beloved so happy, just by being herself and so loving to him. And really, she just could never get enough of it. Making Jack happy was by far one of the greatest and brightest points of any given day.

Sally made a note to herself to give him something special for dinner tonight, so he would surely have something wonderful to smell once he walked in the door. Sure, there was no special reason for it, but who needed a special occasion?

"Arf! Arf!"

Zero's barking snapped Sally out of her reverie, and she came to see that he stopped along a patch of mushrooms, all near that spider-web-like tree.

"Oooh...so this must be the mushrooms." Sally smiled, approaching the patch of them, kneeling down. She gently plucked one, inspected it, and then placed it into her basket.

As she gathered a few, Zero wandered off a few feet away to see what else he could find. He also caught on to a strange scent, that he just couldn't quite pinpoint. Naturally, he was quite curious and wanted to find out what it was, but he didn't stray too far away from his mistress. Whenever that would come to pass, he would make sure to either just mosey on back over to her, or if it seemed important or suspicious, he would bark for her attention to follow him.

The scent appeared stationary, but Zero was not taking any chances. He floated back over to Sally, barking to get her attention.

"Zero? What is it, boy?" She stood up, having collected enough mushrooms for the moment. She followed after the ghost dog, seeing that along the cluster of trees, there were more mushrooms along the ground, as if...leading in a line. "What did you find?"

"Arf!" Zero kept going ahead of her, often turning around so that she would catch up to him. He followed the scent, as it was getting closer. Indeed, whatever it was, it was stationary.

The trees along either side of the path grew denser and denser, blocking out the sun more and more, as if it were getting darker. Sally was puzzled. She had never been this far before, and started to want to turn back, but she wanted to see what Zero had found.

As they went along the path, more and more mushrooms were sprouted around, flourishing. All in different sizes and colours. But that wasn't the only surprising thing.

Ahead of them, was a tree that had a door on it. It was far away from the Holiday doors, and it probably wasn't even a Holiday door. The door was in the shape of a big red mushroom head, with large white spots, and it had two black eyes along the small base.

"...A door?" Sally blinked, having not at all expected to find something like this. "Where does it lead...?"

Slowly, she approached the door, very much drawn to it. She was a little anxious in doing so, and wanted to forget it all together. It was probably unsafe. Of course, there was something about it, something that drew her to it, to check it out and see what it was, where it led.

Against her better judgement and gut feeling, Sally reached out, grasping the small, golden doorknob. She turned it, and slowly pulled open the mushroom-shaped door. Peering inside, there was nothing but blackness. Endless blackness.

She turned around, facing Zero and giving a little shrug.

"WAAAUUGGGHH!" A ghostly apparition, most definitely not one of the ghosts from the graveyard, appeared before her face. It was round, sphere-like, with wide black eyes, a row of teeth, including fangs, and little arms.

Sally squealed in fright and reared back, stumbling back a few steps before she tripped on her wobbly stance. She then fell back into the open Mushroom door, disappearing into the black abyss, with the door closing behind her. Zero barked in shock and despair, and the ghost from earlier laughed and disappeared through the tree trunk.

Meanwhile, off some ways away, was the same green mist from before. Of course, this mist was now revealed to be none other than Oogie Boogie himself, in spirit form.

"Ooh-hoo-hoo...so the rag doll is all alone...and through that door!" He chuckled to himself "Won't that be perfect..._bait_ to lure in Jack... Yes..."

With an evil laugh, he floated on back to the treehouse, an evil plan formulating already.

* * *

><p>"When is he getting back?" Lock complained, kicking over an old can. "I'm bored silly!"<p>

"He's only been gone for ten minutes!" Shock chided. "We can't do anything until he tells us what we need to do!"

"You'd think the first two times, he'd give up." Barrel murmured.

"Third time is usually the charm!" Lock said, and sat down on a chair. "He's Oogie Boogie, he can do it!"

"Oh hoo hoo hoo! Well now, you don't need to wait any longer, my pets!" Oogie Boogie's voice sounded as his misty spirit form floated back into the room, taking on his usual shape. "Now have I got the task for you three!"

"Tell us!" The three of them said in eager unison.

"Why it's true, as I've seen, that the little rag doll is indeed the one who stole Jack's heart!" Oogie Boogie declared, an evil grin coming to his ghostly face. The trio all nodded. "You're joking! Ah, I can't believe my eyes! How could I not see it before! Well then, certainly she will make good bait!"

"Tell us what to do, Mr. Oogie Boogie!" Shock said eagerly.

"Find her! Find her and kidnap her, bring her back to me!" Oogie Boogie declared. "She went to the mushroom patches in the forest, and disappeared through a door, also in the shape of a mushroom! Unfathomable, but true! Go through the door, find her within the other side, and bring her to me! We'll use her as bait, to lure Jack in, and destroy his spirit once and for all!"

"You mean kill her?" Lock questioned, grinning.

"Destroy!" Oogie Boogie cackled. "Jack will be broken! Have nothing more to be undead for! Without his oh-so dear Sally, he'll be nothing! My minions, my bugs! Listen well! Come with me!"

Lock, Shock, and Barrel followed after Oogie Boogie's spirit, as the equally ghostly spirits of his bugs appeared all around them. Was that even possible? But neither of them cared, of course. It just felt good to be able to serve Oogie Boogie yet again! And why wouldn't it?

They were all descending into the old underground casino lair, with the spirit of the bug creatures following along and around them. It was then also, that Oogie Boogie took the moment to break into song and dance!

"_In the dark of the night  
>I was haunting and roaming<br>And my defeat was as bad as can be  
>It terrified me, scared me out of my wits!<em>

_All my hard work  
>All of my bugs falling to bits!<br>Then I opened my eyes  
>And I knew the true nightmare is ME!<em>"

Reaching his casino, his sacred wonderful place, he was quite glad to see it still surprisingly in tact! Oogie Boogie made his way to the table, finding his two usual die sitting there, just begging to be used.

"_I was once the most horrible one in all of town!  
>When Jack defeated me he made a mistake!<br>My curse will make each of them pay!  
>Then one certain girl got in the way!<em>

_Little Sally beware  
>Oogie Boogie's awake!<em>"

Within the song and dance, Lock, Shock, Barrel and the chorus of the bug creatures joined in on the sporadic song.

"_In the dark of the night  
>Evil will find her!<br>In the dark of the night  
>Just before dusk<em>"

"_Revenge will be sweet  
>When my plans are complete<em>"

"_In the dark of the night"_

"_She'll be gone!_

_They won't keep me dead for very long  
>Soon I will rise again to take back what is mine!<br>As the pieces fall into place  
>I will see the terror upon her face!<em>

_And to this I say,  
>Princess Sally Your Grace,<br>Farewell!"_

"_In the dark of the night  
>Terror will strike her"<em>

"_Only the least I can do!"_

"_In the dark of the night  
>Evil will brew"<em>

"_Soon she will feel that her nightmares are real"_

"_In the dark of the night"_

"_She'll be through!"_

"_In the dark of the night  
>Evil will find her<br>In the dark of the night  
>Terror comes to doom her"<em>

"_My dear rag doll  
>It's a sign<br>From here on in  
>It's the end of the line!"<em>

"_In the dark of the night  
>In the dark of the night"<em>

"_Come my pupils, my minions  
>Rise for your master!<br>Let your evil shine!  
><em>

_Find her!  
>Now, yes!<br>Flee ever faster!"_

"_In the dark of the night  
>In the dark of the night<br>In the dark of the night!"_

"_She'll be MINE!"_

Thunder crashed and lightning struck the ground, as evil laughter, mostly drowned out by Oogie Boogie's own cackling, sounded from below the treehouse. The evil plan was set in motion, little did Sally or even Jack know, about the almost-return of Oogie Boogie.


	2. Kidnap The Pumpkin Princess

**All right folks, here is where we'll enter the Mushroom Kingdom! :D OwO**

**Not much else to say, except I hope you enjoy the journey! This ties in to the first two **_**Paper Mario **_**games, KIND OF.**

**And oh yes, I don't care what anyone says, I consider Sally a Princess! A Disney Princess! Why? **

**Well, aren't Cinderella and Belle Princesses by association? They weren't born into royalty, and now they're with Princes, and they are already Princesses. So, why not Sally, too? Jack is the Pumpkin King! Doesn't that count? Well, I for one think it does! ;) So there.**

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><p><strong>Today's song is called <strong>_**Kidnap The Pumpkin Princess**_**, which is of course a rendition of **_**Kidnap The Sandy Claws**_** and the game's rendition of the song, **_**Hail To Mr. Oogie**_**, since it kind of combines both in a way.**

_Kidnap The Pumpkin Princess_-Lock, Shock and Barrel

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><p>Mushrooms, flowers, turtle shells, hammers, vegetables...all kinds of lighted shapes were in view as Sally was then falling down a...pipe? Yes, it was a pipe. It was green, metallic, she was falling down a large pipe!<p>

She soon rose upward, toward a source of light. It nearly blinded her.

Before finally, she was now out of the pipe. Or at least, her upper body was. She clutched onto the edges, looking around her. She was in a dark, very dark forest. But it wasn't at all familiar to Halloween Town's forests. The trees were thicker, denser, the vegetation was dark, though prominent. There more strange mushrooms, but nothing like the ones she found back in the forest. There were bushes with bright white flowers, and there seemed to be gates all around.

"...Where am I?" Sally wondered, now climbing out of the pipe completely, carefully lowering herself to the ground. "What is this place...?"

A wolf howled somewhere off in the distance, the sound of bats flapping their wings were heard overhead, crows cawed. It made her realize that this was some kind of dark, haunted forest.

Gulping a little, Sally turned back around, and was horrified to find that the pipe was gone! She couldn't get back to Halloween Town now, she was stuck, and alone in the middle of a strange place, in some kind of a dark forest.

"Oh...no...what will I do...? Jack will be worried...and I don't know where to go, where I am..." Sally murmured in worry, unsure of what to do now.

She looked around her, taking a few steps forward, going slowly, as if afraid that any sort of movement would trigger something horrible. This wasn't the same kind of fear she would feel in Halloween Town, where it was perfectly natural to feel scared and alone. Here, it was something different. It had to be. She could see by now that it was indeed scarier to be scared in an unfamiliar setting. Back home, it was expected. This just offered more unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and especially some kind of isolation.

Those were all excellent factors in offering a good scare. Sally would've admitted to this being clever in scaring, but now was not the time to think about it. This wasn't some elaborate Halloween Scare or some prank. She was in a new place, and was unsure of what to do or where to go. Alone, and unable to get back home. It worried her.

There was a sign, standing across from a gate that led down another path. It read _**Toad Town**_, with an arrow pointing downward. Likely an indication of going in the direction behind her.

"Toad...Town?" Sally said to herself, puzzled. She wondered why there would be such a place called Toad Town. Especially since the door was shaped like a mushroom, which she figured by now led to some kind of mushroom world. "...Oh, wait. Toad...as in a toadstool."

She turned around, heading to the gate. It was made of a long, thin log. With no other option, and since it was a town, she could probably get some help. She pushed aside the gate and went through, heading down the indicated path.

The trees around her grew less thick, the area around her became less dark, and before she knew it, she came to a little bridge. Curious, she crossed it, and came into the bright, lively, colourful place she assumed was Toad Town.

And it wasn't kidding. There were walking mushrooms! Anthropomorphic mushrooms. They all had toadstool heads, with small faces, and wore clothing like any other normal person, and were walking around. Sally was quite surprised. They were all much smaller than she was, barely reaching past her knees.

A toad walked over to her, and gasped at the sight of how frightening she looked. At least, to them she did.

"Waaahh! W-Who a-a-are you...?" He cried, shivering in fright.

Sally's eyes widened, and she knelt down at his level. "Please don't be frightened, I'm not here to hurt you. I...I need some help, actually."

The toad looked relieved and took a few breaths, even if he was still a little intimidated by seeing a creature like her. "O-Okay...w-what is it? What can I do to help?"

"I'm lost here, you see. I came to this place through a door...in the shape of a mushroom, and then I came out of this pipe in the dark forest back over there." Sally explained.

"Y-You mean...you came outta Forever Forest? Wow!" Said the toad, amazed. "Um...you should go see Princess Peach! She'll know what to do!"

"Princess Peach? Oh, she's the ruler of this town, then?" Sally guessed.

"Not just our town! The entire Mushroom Kingdom!" Said the toad, grinning now. "I'm Pete T, by the way! You should go up further ahead," He pointed to his left. "And you'll find Princess Peach's castle! She's a really nice lady, she'll help you out!"

Sally smiled and nodded before she stood up straight. "Thank you, Pete T. I'll go see her right away."

"Anytime, Miss! ...Say, what's your name?"

"My name is Sally." She told him kindly.

"Okay, Sally! Good luck to you!" Pete T grinned.

"Thank you very much, I appreciate it..." She smiled and then walked off in the direction he'd told her to go. _Mushroom Kingdom...that's very interesting. I never would've thought of a world where there were mushroom people._

Feeling a little more at ease since she was near civilization, and now had a good source of help, Sally took in the sights of the town as she headed to where she could find Princess Peach's castle. A lot of the homes were in the shape of mushrooms, while some even took on the shapes of somewhat regular kinds of homes. Or at least, what some would consider to be regular. More toad people walked around, just going about their business. Some were frightened at the sight of her, but she smiled and waved at them as a means of assuring that she wasn't an enemy. They looked relieved and let her continue on her way.

The town was pretty big, but it wasn't long before she found the castle. It was hard to miss, anyway! She had to admit, it was the biggest castle she'd ever seen. Pure white bricks, red shingles along the roof and towers, it was colossal, like something out of the Victorian era. Two mushroom people were standing guard at the main doors. Sally gulped a little, wondering if they would let her inside, since she was a bit of a suspicious-looking person.

_I'll just be nice to them, be honest with them completely._ She told herself.

Approaching the castle, she looked to the guards, who now looked at her in amazement and fright.

"Um...excuse me? I wondered if it would be possible to see Princess Peach." She told them softly.

"W-W-W-What b-b-b-business do you have...with P-P-Princess Peach?" One of the guards asked shakily.

"You're not...you're not in league with...B-Bowser, are you?" The other guard uttered.

Sally looked confused, and shook her head. "No. I don't even know who you're talking about. I'm not from around here, you see...and I need to see Princess Peach for help on getting back home."

The two guards exchanged a look, and then looked back up at her.

"How do we know you're not some...evil force out to kidnap her?"

She could understand that they were suspicious, so she kept patient and kind, and even used a tactic Jack had taught her. "I think...if I wanted to kidnap her, I wouldn't be talking to you both requesting entrance inside. I would probably find a way to sneak in and kidnap her without anyone knowing. I do...stick out like a sore thumb, don't I? So would I want to draw any kind of attention to myself, even if I was trying to lay false pretences?"

The guards exchanged a look, before looking at her again.

"Heh heh, that's a good point! All right, you can go inside and see Princess Peach. Just wait downstairs. Her assistant, Toadsworth, should be around. Ask him to see her and he will bring you to see her."

Sally smiled, thanking them as they opened the doors and allowed her to go inside. She found herself upon a large red carpet, which led up the staircase ahead of her, and then to two other smaller ones on either side of her. There was a golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and the flooring was black and white checkered tile, which she found to be pretty interesting.

An elderly toad came to her then. He wore round glasses, had a white mustache, and a cane.

"Hello...are you Toadsworth?" Sally queried.

"Why yes! What can I do you for, miss?" Toadsworth examined her, feeling quite a bit weirded out.

"I would like to see Princess Peach, sir. I've come a long way from my home and I need help in finding a way back. I was told to come see Princess Peach for help."

"Ah, I see! In a predicament, aren't you?" Toadsworth nodded. "I don't believe the Princess is busy at the moment, I'll go see if she is available to see you! Please wait here, miss!"

Sally nodded, thanking him before she took a seat on a small cushioned bench not far from the door. She unclasped the bat-shaped hook at the front of her cloak, removing it from her shoulders. She wondered how much time had passed, or even if the time here and back in Halloween Town were the same. She wondered if Jack knew she was missing by now, if Zero even made it back to tell him so.

Either way, she had a pretty bad feeling about something that was to come. She just didn't know what it could've meant. Some kind of trouble, that much she knew.

She just hoped it was wrong.

Toadsworth came back a few moments later, though puffing and panting. "Oh, I say! Well Miss, come with me to the Princess' office! She would be glad to see you!"

"Thank you, Mr. Toadsworth. I really appreciate your help." Sally said politely as she stood up to follow him.

She followed the elder toad up the staircase, and through another set of doors, now coming to the second floor. The same red carpet followed along on either side of her, leading to doors along the walls, a staircase one either side of the room, and one single door straight ahead.

"This way now, Miss!" Said Toadsworth, leading the way to the right. He came to one door, which was blue with a gold star on it.

For some reason, the star also had a pair of small black eyes.

Toadsworth opened the door, and led her inside. "Princess! I have brought her to you now!"

Princess Peach looked up from her paperwork on her desk and smiled before she stood up, coming around her desk to greet them. "Thank you, Toadsworth." She said sweetly. "You can go take your tea now, if you'd like."

"Jolly good, Princess!" Toadsworth bowed to her, nodded politely toward Sally, before he exited the office.

Peach smiled, and then faced Sally. "Hello! It's very nice to meet you. I'm Princess Peach, and I'd be more than happy to help you with your problem."

Needless to say, Sally was quite amazed as she took in Princess Peach's appearance. She was fairly tall, almost as tall as she was, with striking blue eyes, and long blonde hair. She wore a pink dress that resembled something out of the Victorian era, with darker pink paniers around the waist, and two stripes along the hem. Along with that, full-length white gloves, a small golden crown on top of her head, adorned with red and blue jewels, and a large blue brooch on the bust of her dress. She was brighter, with such interesting and bright clothes, pink no less, and she was so beautiful. Not to mention a human. A human, ruling a land of mushroom people? That was an interesting concept.

Then again, she did come from a world where a skeleton ruled over several kinds of monsters and other creatures, maybe that evened out a bit.

"I...thank you very much, Princess Peach." Sally gave a small bow to be polite. "Yes, I do have a problem with getting back home."

"That's what Toadsworth told me, yes." Peach nodded, smiling warmly. "Oh...are you all right? Did you...have an accident?" She now looked concerned as she examined Sally a bit.

Sally looked puzzled. "What do you mean? No, I'm fine."

"Your...stitches, I mean..." Peach pointed out, looking anxious. "Oh, unless you don't talk about them? I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry, I was just-"

"It's all right, Princess Peach...I'm actually a rag doll." Sally admitted, looking away shyly. "I was created by a scientist."

"Oh!" Peach exclaimed, and nodded. "I see. I'm sorry, Miss. I understand now. Ooh, here, let me take that for you." She took Sally's cloak from her hands, draping it over her arm. "Please, have a seat, and tell me what's going on."

"Thank you, Princess Peach." Sally slowly and shyly sat down on a chair before Peach's desk. "I'm very sorry to bother you, of course...I only want to be able to get home."

"I understand, Miss." Peach said with a smile. "Where do you come from? Beyond the borders of the Mushroom Kingdom, I presume?"

"Yes. I'm...I'm from the town of Halloween."

Peach's blonde eyebrows rose. "Halloween? I'm afraid I don't understand."

Oh dear. This wasn't looking good at all. "It may sound strange to you... But yes, I am from Halloween Town. There are these places called the Holiday worlds, and I come from Halloween. I came here through a new door I had never seen before, and it bore the image of a mushroom, as I can see around here. I then for some reason came out through this pipe in...what they call Forever Forest, and I came here when I found a sign leading to this town." Sally explained, feeling more and more anxious about this. Was there really no way to get back home? "I was wondering if you could somehow help me...find a way back...or if the Holiday doors are somewhere in your world, as well."

"Mmm...oh my, I've never seen this kind of thing happen before." Peach admitted, still looking quite surprised. "I wouldn't know where to find them... Ooh!" She looked as if a lightbulb went off above her head. "I might know who can help you! Professor Frankly, he's an acclaimed Archaeology professor at the University of Goom. He may just be able to research the Holiday doors and even try to find them. He and his apprentice, Goombella, are living in town right now since they're studying Shooting Star Summit."

"Oh, I see..." Sally felt a lot more relieved, hoping that this professor could help her. "And...where may I find Professor Frankly?"

"He lives in south Toad Town, in a small house near the train station." Peach directed, and handed her a piece of paper. "Here is a map of the town, this should help you out."

Sally smiled and took the map, examining it for a moment, and then tucking it away into her pocket. "Thank you very much for your help, Princess Peach...I-I really appreciate it."

"Why, you're welcome!" Peach said sweetly. "Oh, I don't believe I caught your name. Will you tell me?"

"Oh, well, it's S-" Sally began, but was cut off by a loud rumbling noise.

"Oh!" Peach ducked down behind her desk, while Sally grabbed hold of the wall to balance herself. "Goodness, what in the world was that?"

There was then a loud knocking on the door. "Princess!" Came Toadsworth's voice from the other side, sounding very panicked. "Princess! Please come out! You must come and see this! It's disastrous!"

Sally, who happened to be the closest to the door, decided to open it for her. Unfortunately, she hadn't realized that the smarter idea would have been not to do that. Because just about immediately after, a few Koopa guards grabbed her and stuffed her into a big burlap sack while she screamed in fright, soon muffled away.

"We got her, boys! Let's move!" One Koopa said.

A Hammer bro Koopa nodded. "Right! Man, was that Toadsworth impression awesome or what?"

"You bet it was, man!"

"Dude, shut up! We gotta go!"

"Okay! Man Bowser will be so glad we got Princess Peach so easily!"

"No!" Peach cried as they dragged the bag away, not once noticing her in the room. She saw that they had intended to kidnap _her_, but had kidnapped Sally by accident. Due to her interference. "Oh no..."

She looked down at the cloak she hadn't realized she was still holding, and looked out the window. Sure enough, she could see Bowser flying off in his little clown ship in the distance, while the Koopas who had kidnapped Sally were trailing along in some kind of flying machine. Peach bit her lip, worried and unsure of what to do next.

Were Mario and Luigi even home?

In a hurry, she placed the cloak on around her shoulders, pulling up the hood to conceal her face. If any of Bowsers minions were still roaming the castle or the town, at least she would be concealed. Despite that the cloak didn't tie in the front.

Her only chance was to see if Mario and Luigi were around, since they were the only ones who could ever stop Bowser. While she'd be at it, she made a note to go and see Professor Frankly as well.

"Mario...Luigi...I hope you two are around..."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Lock, Shock and Barrel were wandering the forest within their walking bathtub. They had been searching for quite some time to find the door that Oogie Boogie had told them about.<p>

"Will we ever find this door?" Lock complained.

"It's out there! Mr. Oogie Boogie wouldn't lead us on like that!" Shock said indignantly.

"I'm hungry." Said Barrel, rubbing his tubby tummy.

"You ate ten minutes ago!" Shock chided. "Quit whining!"

"Yeah! We have a Pumpkin Princess to kidnap!" Lock smirked. "We'll have her in no time!"

"Look!" Barrel pointed upward, grinning. "There it is! The mushroom door!"

"Then you know what that means!" Shock sneered.

Lock grinned too. "I definitely do! It means it's time to-"

"Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess!" The three chorused in unison.

"_Laa, la, la, la, la, laa!  
>La, la, la, la, laa!<br>Laa, la, la, la, la, laa!  
>La, la, la, la, laa!<em>" They sang as they hopped out of the tub, making sure to anchor it in place, then also taking their special Halloween bag, the same they had used to capture Santa Claus.

"_Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess  
>Take revenge on Jack<br>Grab the woman he loves  
>He'll never save her no matter what he does!<em>"

(Shock)  
>"<em>First we'll track her down and wait<br>Once we find her we'll set into action!  
>Capture her in our bag<br>And bring her back to meet her doomed fate!"_

(Lock)  
>"<em>I've got a better plan, the best one of all<br>To catch this pitiful rag doll  
>We'll lure her into a trap<br>Then once she steps in we'll have her in our grasp!"_

"_Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess  
>Jack will fight to save her life<br>But we're always one step ahead!  
>For when we're done his precious Sally will be dead!"<em>

(Shock)  
>"<em>We'll bring her to Mr. Oogie Boogie man"<em>

"_So he can overtake her then!  
>He'll be so pleased, I do surmise<br>That he will bring to her a terrible demise!  
>Wheeeee!"<em>

(Lock)  
>"<em>I say we take her down and tie her up<br>We'll tear her limbs to her very core  
>When Jack finally comes his dear Sally will be no more!"<em>

(Shock)  
>"<em>You stupid idiot!<br>Think of what could happen if we tear her apart  
>Jack will have a broken heart but all we'll come to engage"<em>

"_Is the face of his almighty rage!  
><em>

_Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess  
>Tie her in a set of chains<br>Jack will never hesitate  
>To save his dear Sally from her doomed fate!"<em>

(Lock)

"_Because Mr. Oogie Boogie is the meanest guy around  
>If I were on his Oogie list<br>I'd get out of town!"_

(Barrel)  
>"<em>He'll be so pleased, I do declare<br>He'll reward us to our best!  
>Maybe with a special brew<br>Of snake and spider stew!"_

(Shock)

"_If only my cohorts would just listen  
>And stop being so dumb<br>If not for you we'd have her now!  
>We'll find her, and I know how!"<em>

"I'm not dumb!" Said Barrel.

Lock griped at him, "You're no fun!"

(Shock)  
>"<em>Listen now and listen good!<br>Jack is her greatest weakness of all  
>So we'll have her fooled and had!<br>And then we'll catch his beloved rag doll!_

_This one is good, you'll see!  
>With this plan in motion<br>It'll be a synch  
>Then we'll have her, one two three!<em>"

"_Laa, la, la, la, la, laa!  
>La, la, la, la, laa!<br>Laa, la, la, la, la, laa!  
>La, la, la, la, laa! <em>

_Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess  
>Take revenge on Jack<br>Grab the woman he loves  
>He'll never save her no matter what he does!"<em>

(Lock)  
>"<em>Once we take his doll<br>Jack will come running  
>No matter what he does<br>He'll never surpass our cunning!"_

(Shock)

"_We'll have her in our grasp  
>As she warns of Jack coming to save her<br>But we'll pay her no mind  
>She'll be in a place Jack can never find!"<em>

(Barrel)  
>"<em>Oogie Boogie will do her in<br>No matter how much she pleads, she'll never win!"_

"_Because Mr. Oogie Boogie is the meanest guy around!"_

_Laa, la, la, la, la, laa!  
>La, la, la, la, laa!<br>Laa, la, la, la, la, laa!  
>La, la, la, la, laa! <em>

_Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess  
>Lock her in a cell<br>Set her on fire  
>And see if she will yell!<em>

_Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess  
>Jack will fight to save her life<br>But we're always one step ahead!  
>For when we're done his precious Sally will be dead!<em>

_Kidnap the Pumpkin Princess  
>Take revenge on Jack<br>Grab the woman he loves  
>He'll never save no matter what he does!<em>

Wheeee!"

Their laughter rang out as they then set through the door in search of Sally. It wouldn't be long before they too would soon come to the Mushroom Kingdom. On the other hand, they didn't quite count on having no idea how to get back, since they didn't think of that yet.


	3. Involvement

**Well, no song in this one! XD But if you do like the songs, don't worry, there are more to come! Again, some are renditions of the songs from the film/game, and even a few that I wrote myself!**

**And if you don't like the songs...well, bite me.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

* * *

><p>"Mario! Mario, Luigi! Mario! Luigi!" Peach cried in desperation as she entered the house of the Mario brothers.<p>

Unfortunately, neither of them were there.

She searched the house, including the bedroom (not without blushing), and then around the outside. Mario and Luigi were not home. There wasn't even a note saying where they had gone. This worried Peach, as she wondered where they were and what they were doing. What if they were captured too? Or worse?

No. She couldn't think about that. There was probably a logical explanation for this. Maybe they had gone into town and she had simply missed them. In fact, everyone seemed unaware about what had happened with the kidnapping. For once, Bowser was actually kind of stealthy? That was surprising. Even so, if Mario and Luigi were truly nowhere to be found, everyone would likely be panicking because without their heroes, especially Mario, no one would feel safe.

So far, it looked like that wasn't to be. At least, she hoped so. If a supposed kidnapping could occur without anyone seeing it (surprisingly), then who was to say that Mario and Luigi couldn't somehow disappear with no one knowing?

Peach bit her lip, hoping with all of her heart that this wasn't the case.

With no other options, Peach headed back to Toad Town to search for them. If she couldn't find them, THEN she would begin asking around, if it came to that. She kept reminding herself over and over that it was more than likely that there was a perfectly logical explanation for all of this. But she had to hurry, she didn't want anything to happen to the poor rag doll woman who was captured.

Then again, sometimes, Bowser could be all talk. He often didn't harm his captives, especially her. Peach had seen this several times before. She wasn't too worried, but this woman was still a rag doll, and therefore much more fragile in some ways.

She just hoped that she was all right, and would be until she was rescued. Whatever it would take, she would make sure that woman would be saved, and brought back to where she belonged.

* * *

><p>"Where is she?.!" Lock complained, peering out from the bush again. "Geez, she could be anywhere in this forsaken mushroom place!"<p>

"Quiet!" Shock hissed. "We're lucky! She'll really stick out like a sore thumb! Remember, Oogie Boogie said she was wearing a gray cloak, so keep an eye for that."

"I hope we find her soon, Oogie Boogie might get impatient." Barrel pointed out.

Lock peered out again, looking all over for anything out of place. Before long, coming from the northern path of where they currently were, was someone wearing a gray cloak. Since they had the hood up, he couldn't see the person's face. But it was gray, and the front of it had a clasp in the shape of a black bat. He grinned.

"You guys! There she is! Right over there!" He said with impish glee, pointing.

"Yes! We've got her! Man that was easy!" Shock grinned. "All right, now we just have to catch her and make our escape! I have a plan! Those mushroom people are watching...we don't want them seeing!"

"Hee hee...I'll distract them!" Barrel said. "Once I have everyone's attention, grab her!"

He slipped out from the bushes, and wandered into view of the toads, looking as cool and happy as can be.

"ATTENTION!" He yelled, taking out an orange and black swirly yo-yo from his pocket. "For my first trick, it's yo-yo time!"

"Oooohhh!" A few toads exclaimed.

"Show us around the world!" Said one Toad kid.

Barrel grinned and performed the trick for them effortlessly. As expected, all eyes were on him, including who they thought was Sally. That was when Lock and Shock went in for the kill. They snuck up behind her, with their bag ready, and then jumped. The bag covered her head, causing her to start squealing in fright, though muffled by the bag.

"We got her! We got her!" The two said in unison, hiding the bag behind the bushes.

"C'mon, dummy!" Shock said to Barrel. "We gotta go!"

"Heh heh, sure." Barrel grinned. "Goodbye everyone! See you next time!" He scurried off into the bushes.

"Awwww..." Some of the toads complained.

"That was cool!"

"I want a yo-yo!"

"Can I have a yo-yo?"

In the bushes, Lock, Shock and Barrel quickly made an escape to Forever Forest. Since they had come from there, and felt quite at home, none the less, they decided to search there to try to find the door back to Halloween Town. They carried the bag with Princess Peach above their heads like a canoe, laughing gleefully.

"We got her now!" Barrel said happily.

"Oogie Boogie will be so proud!" Shock sneered.

"And on the first try! That was a piece of cake!" Lock laughed.

"Let me go!" Peach cried from inside the bag.

"Geez, her voice is higher than usual!" Shock muttered. "And she's kind of heavy."

"Hey guys...where's the door?" Barrel suddenly said.

"The door?" Lock blinked. "It's...it's around here! You don't know?"

"Well I certainly don't! I thought maybe you dopes knew!" Shock said crossly. "And we came out of a pipe! Where's that?"

"Let's ask her! She ought to know!" Barrel indicated to the bag.

"True...she came here through the door, so maybe she knows!"

They set the bag down, undoing the drawstrings to it.

"All right Sally, tell us where the door is!" Lock ordered.

"AH!" Peach stuck her head out of the bag, with the hood of the cloak down. "I-I can barely breathe in that thing!"

"HUH?.!" Lock, Shock and Barrel exclaimed in shock.

"You're not...! Who are you?.!" Shock cried.

"I...I'm Princess Peach! Now let me go!" Peach begged them.

"...What? Peach? We..." Lock began, shocked.

"We got the WRONG PRINCESS!" Shock screeched. "You stupid idiots! Now we have to go back there and find her!"

"She could be anywhere by now!" Lock protested.

"Who?" Peach blinked. "What do you three mean?"

"We're trying to find a rag doll!" Lock shouted. "Have you seen her?.!"

Peach blinked, completely taken aback. "I...oh! You mean the rag doll woman that was kidnapped by Bowser instead of me?"

"WHAT?.!" The trio screeched.

"Some other mook kidnapped her?"

"Someone beat us to her!"

"Now we have to find him to get her!"

"Um..." Peach tried to speak up, but the kids were too busy arguing to pay attention.

"I can't believe it! Now we have to find this Bowser guy and get her back!" Shock complained.

"Let's make a trade! Since he was trying to kidnap this Peach girl after all!" Said Barrel.

"Are you nuts? That could take forever!" Lock groaned.

"What other choice do we have?" Shock whined. "It's all we CAN do! If we come back with the wrong Princess, or worse, empty-handed, Oogie Boogie will stick us in a stew!"

"I don't want to be stewed!" Barrel cried.

"We need her if we want to get Jack!"

Peach blinked as the trio argued, quite perplexed. And yet, she realized she had an advantage. They were distracted, not even looking at her, and she wasn't bound down by anything. This was a perfect chance to escape! She carefully and quietly climbed out of the bag, and then tip-toed away, heading back to Toad Town as quickly and quietly as she could.

_I'd better find Mario and Luigi, fast! _She thought in worry.

Meanwhile, the trio were still arguing over the matter of trying to find Sally, and also trying to find out how and where to get back to Halloween Town. They didn't at all notice Peach escaping.

"We'd better find her first, and then go on home!" Barrel said.

"We don't even know HOW to get home!" Shock reminded him. "We'd better find the door first and then go find Sally!"

"This sucks!" Lock groaned. "Let's just ask her if she knows!"

"Fine!" Shock said indignantly.

The three turned around toward the bag to ask Peach how they could find the Holiday doors, only to find the bag empty as it lay on the ground in a heap. With a quick look around the area, they concluded that she was nowhere to be seen.

"Wha? Where'd she go?" Lock blinked.

"I don't know..." Barrel said sheepishly.

"You numbskulls!" Shock said angrily. "You were supposed to be watching her!"

"Don't turn this on us! You never said we had to do that!" Lock protested.

"I shouldn't have had to! You should've known to do it instinctively!" Shock shot back. "We'll be in big trouble now!"

"We'd better find her so we can make that trade..." Barrel said.

Unfortunately, this only led to the trio arguing some more.

* * *

><p>Lucky for Peach, she managed to find the brothers at the docks. Since they were talking to the great big whale, she surmised that they must have gone to Lavalava Island to visit the Yoshis in Yoshi Village for a while.<p>

She approached them, with the cloak's hood down, and told them that they needed to talk about something very important, and fast. Seeing her distress, Mario and Luigi quickly agreed to it and took her back to their house so that they could talk about it in private.

Once they returned there, Luigi made them some tea while Peach began with the story.

"I had been working in my office, and Toadsworth told me about this woman who had wandered into town. She was lost, and wanted to see me for help." Peach said, looking down shamefully at her clasped hands. "I was happy to help her, of course, but she said she came from a place called Halloween Town."

"Halloween Town?" Mario repeated.

"That's what she had said." Peach nodded. "I don't know how and where to get to it, I'm afraid. Then we were suddenly interrupted by Bowser and his minions. They tricked us by one of them sounding like Toadsworth, which lead the woman to open the door while I hid behind my desk. When she did, they kidnapped her, thinking it was me. I suppose now they thought I would open the door and then they would have me. Now thanks to my cowardice...she was the one who was kidnapped instead of me."

"It's not your fault!" Luigi assured her. "Don't be hard on yourself, Princess! You didn't know this would happen. We just have to find where she is and save her!"

"But I don't know where they went." Peach said, looking anxious. "Bowser could be set up anywhere now. Also...these three strange children kidnapped me, and I assume they mistook me for that woman, since they were looking for someone with a rag doll description. I managed to escape from them and come here, but... I have a feeling that they are after this woman as well. I do not know what their purpose is, but I have a feeling it's not sincere."

Mario considered this for a few moments, feeling just as unsure about how to go about things himself. He wanted to just stand up and go find Bowser just like he always did. But with Peach's pleading look, and how much this seemed to affect her, he decided to go with Luigi's advice. To sit and think about this before doing anything.

"We'll think of something, Peach...don't worry." Mario finally told her, patting her hand.

Peach smiled at him sadly. "All right, Mario. In the meantime...we should probably go and see Professor Frankly. I told her that maybe he could research where the Holiday Doors are. She said that in her world, she found a door in the shape of a Mushroom, and then ended coming out of a warp pipe in Forever Forest."

The brothers exchanged a look before nodding.

"Sure! Let's go find him right now!" Luigi said agreeably.

"He should know what to do." Mario stood up from his chair. "If anyone knows where to find something like those...he should."

"That's exactly what I thought." Peach said, standing up. "Come then, we don't have a minute to lose!"

Mario and Luigi nodded, this time leaving a note for anyone who was coming by about where they were going, and then headed out after Princess Peach.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back in Halloween Town, it was fairly late when Jack finally did arrive back home, he couldn't help but feel that something was amiss. For starters, when he came home, Sally was nowhere to be seen. He was partly perturbed, since he had wanted to greet her and offer some interesting news he had.<p>

But aside from that, Jack searched around, and could see that she didn't even leave a note. She always did that. He recalled she told him that she was going to go out into the forest to find some mushrooms, but wouldn't she have done that earlier in the day, like she said? Unless she changed her mind?

No, if she had, she would still have left a note if she figured she wouldn't make it back by the time he'd come home, late or not.

By now, Jack was beginning to get worried.

Zero wasn't around either, which meant that he had either gone off, or was with Sally. Anytime he wasn't around, he had instructed Zero to make sure she was safe. Had he not come back yet, either?

"Where is she...?" He wondered out loud to himself, pacing his study as he scratched his skull. "Where had she gone?"

The next option now, was to ask around town. Surely they must've seen her if she did leave somewhere. Jack quickly headed downstairs, and then out the door of his (and Sally's) home, out into the slowly darkening streets of the town. He went at a brisk pace, but tried not to go too fast or seemed to harried and panicked. He was the Pumpkin King! He had to keep calm as he could, and approach the situation with caution and logic. There was likely a logical explanation for this. Maybe he was worrying too much and just needed to be told that all was well so he could relax a bit.

Of course, ever since he'd fallen in love, worrying about Sally became second nature to him. He always feared something would happen to her. Not to the point of insanity or paranoia, of course. Definitely not. He just wanted her to be safe from harm. Caring about someone at any level did that to you, and he surely knew this by now.

Upon the time when Oogie Boogie had come back, deceived the town and took over, he recalled exactly how much he feared everyone's safety. Sally's especially. He even blamed himself for what had happened, and knew that if something horrible happened to her, he would never have forgiven himself. Thankfully, even through the tougher times of that nightmare (and not the good kind), no horribly serious harm came to her. By the time it was over, it felt like nothing more than a horrible memory.

Worrying about her may have intensified since then, considering the circumstances of that situation. But again, not to the point of driving either of them crazy. Jack had made mistakes in his undead lifetime, but he wasn't an idiot. He saw what that had done to Sally, and he vowed never to turn into a Dr. Finkelstein (back then, not now) and keep her isolated and practically prisoned. He trusted her, and wanted her to be happy, and to feel free and liberated. As much as he wanted her safe, he knew better than to take extreme measures.

Jack took precautions where and when needed, as did she, and left the rest up to trusting her, and to fate.

Now though, he was both confused and worried. Whichever one took precedent, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that he wanted answers for the time being.

Mr. Hyde was walking by, likely on his way to open the bookstore, and Jack caught up to him.

"Mr. Hyde, I'm very sorry to bother you this evening. But I must ask you something."

"Of course Jack, do go right ahead." Said Mr. Hyde as he turned to face him. "Tell me what is concerning you."

"I wanted to know if you had seen Sally at all today. She was not at home when I got there, and I was wondering where she is." Jack explained, doing all he could to keep the worry out of his voice.

"Oh, Sally? Why no, I had not seen her." Mr. Hyde responded gravely, and then pulled up his hat to reveal the smaller Mr. Hyde.

"I haven't seen her, either!" Said the smaller Mr. Hyde, before he lifted his hat to reveal the smallest Mr. Hyde.

"Neither did I!" Said the smallest Mr. Hyde.

"We wish you luck in finding her, Jack. I am certain she could not have gone far." Said Mr. Hyde, and the other two chorused their agreement.

Jack smiled a bit, nodding. "All right, thank you very much for your help." He waved to them and headed off on his way.

As he came into the town square, near the fountain, he could see the witches just then opening up their shop, chattering about as they did so. It relieved him to know that they no longer bore jealous grudges against Sally, they hadn't for well over a year now, which was good to know. Maybe they had seen her? Had Sally stopped by the shop at all?

Approaching them, the two witches stopped talking before they turned around to face him.

"Jack! What brings you here? Do you need something?" Asked the Little Witch.

"Do tell what we can do for you, Jack!" Said the Big Witch, giving a sneering smile.

"I wanted to know if you saw Sally anywhere, at all today. She was not home, and I wondering if maybe you saw where she went." Jack told them, again trying to keep his composure.

"I saw her earlier today, around the afternoon!" Said the Big Witch, thinking for a moment. "Yes! We were going to apply the brew for our brooms to make them ready for next Halloween, and she told us she was heading into the forest to find those mushrooms we had told her about!"

"But that was hours ago." The Little Witch said thoughtfully. "She had said she was heading there right then, too."

This worried Jack quite a bit more. "You...haven't seen her since then, have you?"

Both witches shook their heads.

"No hyde or seek of her, Jack." Said the Big Witch. "That was the only time we did see her at all! Either we missed her, or she's still out there."

That alarmed Jack quite a bit. Sally wouldn't stay out that long, especially not in the forest. Not that it was very dangerous, of course, but she wasn't one to do that. What in the world would've been her prerogative for doing so?

"All right, so you did say she went into the forest..." Jack repeated, and the witches nodded. "And you haven't seen her since then. ...I see. Well, thank you very much ladies. I appreciate your help."

"Anytime, Jack! Good luck finding her." The Big Witch said sincerely.

"We'll keep an eye out for her, too!" The Little Witch promised.

Jack smiled and thanked them once more before he headed off. Around the town square, he asked around to a few of the denizens he ran into. Fish Gal, who also denied in having seen Sally anywhere since she had left for the forest earlier that day. Clown claimed he hadn't seen her in the past few hours either. The Vampire Brothers were out of the question, considering they had been sleeping all day and had only just come out a few minutes ago, considering that it was growing darker.

The Wolfman hadn't seen her, neither did the Cyclops or the Harlequin Demon. Jack even asked the Corpse family, and had gotten the same result. Ethan said he saw her talking to the witches earlier that day, Bertha claimed she hadn't seen her, and Ned said he saw her heading into the graveyard, and had not seen her since then.

Nothing. Either way, no one had seen her over the past few hours. This worried Jack even more. And where was Zero? He hadn't seen him around either.

Jack decided then to check around the graveyard and the pumpkin patch. Maybe Behemoth had seen her at all? The ghosts? With that in mind, he headed through the gate to the graveyard.

Sure enough, a few of the ghosts were floating around, talking about things. Probably their next haunting plans. When they saw Jack coming, they stopped and all faced him intently.

"Jack! What brings you out here?" Questioned one ghost.

"I'm looking for Sally. She wasn't at home when I got there, and everyone who has seen her claimed to have seen her go to the forest much earlier today. No one has seen her since then." Jack said in worry, unable to hide it anymore. "Did you see her go through here, and have you seen her since then?"

The ghosts all exchanged glances before shaking and nodding their heads.

"She did head through here to get to the forest. It was much earlier, late morning, almost the afternoon at the time." Said another ghost. "But we haven't seen her since then. None of us have. It has been hours, sure, but one of us will have seen her if she did come back, that's for sure."

"But she hasn't, not at all." Said another ghost, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Jack. We haven't seen her since she went through here earlier today."

Jack, very much more worried by now, nodded to them and thanked them for their help before setting off. There was a bad feeling in his bones, and he feared something horrible may have happened to her. What if she was hurt? Or worse?

"Arf! Arf! Arf!"

Familiar barking met his ears (if he had any), and Jack felt a sweep of relief. It was Zero! He was coming back! Maybe, just maybe, Sally was with him and they were coming back together. Then everything would be all right, and he wouldn't have to worry. He could shower her with love and care, and feel immensely relieved that she was all right.

"Zero!" Jack called back to his dog, and headed in the direction that his barking was coming from. "Here, boy!"

As the ghost dog came into view, Jack was immediately dismayed. Of course, he was more than happy to see Zero and was glad he was safe and all right. But Sally was not with him. She wasn't even a few feet behind him, like she sometimes would be when Zero would be leading the way ahead of her. No Sally at all, no sign of her. The worry in his bones returned full force.

"Zero, Zero, where is Sally? Were you with her today?" Jack knelt down in front of the ghost dog, worry completely evident in his voice and his expression by now.

Zero nodded, looking at him sadly. "Arf! Arf! Arf!"

This made Jack's eye sockets widen. "A door? Sally...she went through a door?"

"Arf!"

"...What door? Was it one of the Seven Holiday Doors?"

Zero shook his head. "Arf arf! Rarrf!"

"A different door...a mushroom door?" Jack said back to him, his eye sockets widening more. "She found this door, and fell into it after a ghostly apparition scared her?"

"Arf! Arf, arf, arf! Arf!"

"And Lock, Shock and Barrel are out to kidnap her?.!" Jack immediately stood up. "...Zero, before we go, I must get something from home."

Zero nodded and barked once before heading over to the pumpkin patch to wait for him. Jack hurried out of the graveyard, heading back to town as quick as he could. He needed a little bit of help...from an old little friend.

* * *

><p>Inside his study, Jack pulled out a clear glass jar. The contents inside made clear. A gooey, bright green substance. Soul Robber. The handy dandy shape-shifting, expendable, easy to carry little weapon that had helped him in stopping Oogie Boogie upon his tyrannical reign over the town.<p>

"Soul Robber...dear old friend, I need your help in this." Jack unscrewed the lid of the jar, taking out the substance.

Soul Robber immediately roped around his wrist, just like before, making Jack smile. With this in his arsenal, he felt more prepared, and ready to find and save Sally from whatever trouble she might've been in. He then headed out to get back to the graveyard.

Upon his departure, the Mayor had of course seen him running and stopped him, his face rotating to his worried side.

"Jack! Jack, where are you going?"

"I have to find Sally, Mayor! She went missing in the forest, and somehow found a strange door." Jack explained anxiously. "I have to find her, before Lock, Shock and Barrel find her first!"

"Oh no! Sally's missing? Oh dear...this isn't good!" The Mayor cried in worry, especially when Jack was running off. "Jack! Wait! When you will be back?"

"When I find my dear Sally, Mayor!" Jack called to him over his shoulder as he hurried off.

* * *

><p>With Zero leading the way, retracing his and Sally's path, it wasn't too long until they came to where the Mushroom door was. Jack slowly approached it, and though he was amazed by the sight of a new door he'd never seen before, it was no time for excited exploration. He had to find Sally first and foremost.<p>

"Zero, you stay in town and keep an eye for her. I will be back as soon as I find her." Jack told him. "Please."

"Arf!" Zero nodded, looking to him pleadingly.

"I'll find her, boy. I promise you that." Jack said in assurance, smiling a little. "I'll find her and bring her back home."

Patting his dog's head, Jack opened the Mushroom door, peering inside for a moment. Then without hesitation, he went through the door, which shut closed behind him.


	4. Jack and the Mario Bros

**Here is chapter four! :D No song in this chapter, either. X3 Not much else to say, but enjoy!**

XXX

Peach knocked on the door of Professor Frankly's current abode three times, before the door opened, revealing Goombella. She grinned upon seeing the three of them, especially Mario.

"Hey, Mario!" She greeted, stepping aside to let them in. "Hello, Luigi, Peach! What brings you guys here? It's been like, a while!"

"We're here to see Professor Frankly." Peach smiled. "Is he busy?"

"Nope! He's just in his study, re-arranging some stuff." Goombella replied. "C'mon! I'll take you to him!"

Mario and Luigi both grinned and tipped their hats to her in thanks, while Peach smiled all the more and nodded. The trio followed Goombella toward a room in the back of the house, pushing the door open as they came into Professor Frankly's study.

"Hey, Professor! Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach are here to see you!" Goombella told him.

Looking up from his books, Professor Frankly jumped. "Oh! Mario, it's you! Well don't keep me waiting sonny boy, tell me what's up!"

"We're wondering if you know anything of the Holiday Doors." Mario told him, nodding toward Princess Peach.

"It's a bit of a long story, Professor." Peach went on. "But do you think you could tell us something about them?"

"The Holiday Doors?" Goombella questioned. "I haven't heard of those! Have you, Professor?"

"As a matter of fact, I have! Though I only heard rumours of them, and hadn't thought to research the topic just yet, since I had a lot of other things to look into first. But I do believe I have some books on the subject!" Professor Frankly said, and went over to one of his book shelves. He browsed, hopped onto one of his stepping stools, and then took out a book. He brought it to the table, and opened it up, reading through a couple of pages. "Aha! Here it is right here! The Holiday Doors, they are indeed located here in the Mushroom Kingdom! It seems that they are located right in the deep depths of Forever Forest!"

"So they exist? What the heck are these doors, anyway?" Goombella wanted to know.

"The books say that they are what the name implies." Professor Frankly went on. "There are seven Holiday doors, depicting the worlds of the seven holidays. Valentine's Day, St-Patrick's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! The doors all lead to towns that are embodiments of these holidays, where they come from, it seems!"

"Wow!" Luigi exclaimed. "Doors that lead to places that represent holidays? Amazing!"

"That's pretty neat, Professor!" Goombella said, and turned to the trio. "But why do you want to know about 'em, anyway?"

"A woman, a rag doll, came to me requesting for help in finding the doors." Peach told them. "She says she was from Halloween Town, and that she came through a door that leads to our world. A door in the shape of a mushroom. I told her to come and see you, Professor, thinking you may have answers to this matter. However, due to a freak accident...she ended up kidnapped by Bowser and his minions in my place."

"Say what?.! Oh man, that's not good!" Goombella exclaimed. "So we've gotta find these Holiday doors and then rescue her from Bowser?"

"That's-a it." Mario nodded.

"Three kids are trying to kidnap her, too!" Said Luigi. "They kidnapped Peach by accident, apparently mistaking her for this woman."

"Oh my!" Professor Frankly exclaimed, and shook his head. "This is indeed quite a conundrum! Hmmm... Then that settles it! We must formulate a strategy at once!"

"What should we do, Professor?" Goombella asked. "We've gotta find the doors and wherever the heck Bowser is, and then save this girl before those kid freaks find her first!"

"I'm getting to that!" Professor Frankly said. "Here's what we'll do! Mario, you and your brother are to search for where Bowser has taken the rag doll woman from Halloween Town! Goombella, I would like for you to escort Princess Peach to find the Holiday Doors!"

"Man...I was hoping not to go through Forever Forest...but then again, I've been through worse before!" Goombella said, nodding. "You got it, Professor!"

"All right then." Peach nodded, despite she was quite scared of going through Forever Forest.

"Okay! We'll do it!" Luigi grinned, obviously glad that he wasn't being left out on the adventure.

"Mm-hmm!" Mario agreed, nodding.

"You tykes head out, I will stay here and keep on researching this very topic!" Professor Frankly said.

Before either of them could say anything, they heard screaming coming from outside. Alarmed and confused, the Mario brothers hurried out ahead of them, with Peach and Goombella at their heels. They came outside, and saw some of the toads running around wildly in fright.

"We gotta get outta here!"

"What was that thing?"

"It was a skeleton man!"

"Run for your life!"

"Before he takes ours!"

"Everyone! Stop!" Peach yelled, trying to get their attention, but to no avail.

"Oh my gosh! Look at THAT!" Goombella cried in surprise.

The answer to the frightening was not too far off to the path north of them, which they followed to see what was up. A very tall, thin skeleton, dressed in a dapper pinstriped suit, wandered around, trying to speak to the toads. But anyone he approached, they fled in fear. The skeleton man looked very perturbed and worried, not bent on scaring everyone.

A few toads saw them all, and grinned, rallying his friends. "Everyone! It's Mario and Luigi! We're saved!"

"Now you can't do anything, skeleton man! We've got Mario here!"

"And he'll turn your bones into dust!"

"Everyone, quiet!" Peach ordered, and everyone did. She cautiously and slowly approached the skeleton man, a bit nervous, but none the less concerned. There was definitely something about him, that seemed completely sincere. "Excuse me...sir...skeleton man? May I ask what is going on?"

"I'm very sorry to cause you so much trouble!" Said the skeleton man. "I don't mean to scare or harm anyone, I swear."

Peach gave a smile, nodding. "I could see that...you seemed more worried than bent on scaring someone." She nodded to the others, and they came over to stand behind her. "What is your name?"

"I'm Jack, Jack Skellington...I am the Pumpkin King." Jack introduced himself, feeling a bit more at ease of the situation. "Can you help me? I am looking for someone."

"Oh, of course! My name is Princess Peach, and these are my friends, Mario, Luigi, and Goombella." Peach said. "Now, who is it that you're looking for? Can you describe them?"

"Her name is Sally, and she is my dear lady friend." Jack said, and held his hand up to Sally's approximate height. "She's a rag doll, about this tall. Her material skin is very pale blue, her hair is rusty red, she has very big eyes..." He seemed to drift off for a moment, and then came back on topic. "She was also wearing a patchwork dress I believe, and...that is her cloak!" He exclaimed upon seeing the cloak Peach was wearing.

Upon her description, Peach's eyes grew wide. "Oh! Yes...Yes, I have seen her! Her name is Sally, then? She came to me, asking where the Holiday doors are...are you from Halloween Town as well?"

Jack nodded quickly. "Yes! I am! Where is Sally? Where did you last see her?"

A guilty, ashamed look came to Peach's face. "Yes...oh, I'm so sorry of this, Jack. You see, she had been kidnapped due to her accidental interference with the actions of the Koopas, the minions of Bowser, the Koopa King, who had been trying to kidnap me. Instead, however, they kidnapped her in my place by accident. Then these three children kidnapped me, mistaking me for Sally, but I escaped them. It seems that they too are trying to find Bowser to kidnap Sally, while Bowser meant to kidnap me."

An utter look of shock, worry, dismay, and heartbreak came to Jack's face. The thought of his beloved Sally, trapped and kidnapped by some evil villainous type in a foreign land was heartbreaking. "...Sally..." He moaned in worry, and then grew angry. "What scum! I will not let him get away with this! If he dares touch a hair on her head...I will show him no mercy!" He paused, and then looked to them with a calmer, but fairly pleading look. "Princess Peach, those three children you just mentioned...did they happen to dress like a devil, a skeleton and a witch?"

Peach thought for a moment, and nodded. "Yes, they did! They also wore masks, but had taken them off at one point, too. Why?"

"I knew it! Lock, Shock, and Barrel, they are Halloween Town's most notorious pranksters! I was told they were trying to kidnap Sally." Jack clenched his bony fists in fury, but again calmed himself as his expression took on a pleading look. "Listen, this may be much to ask, but I need to know where this Bowser character is! I have to save Sally!"

Peach turned to the Mario brothers, all the while Goombella spoke up in a soft voice to them.

"Wow, Mario! You gotta admit, this guy's pretty dedicated! He came all this way from Halloween Town, and he's willing to go out there to save this Sally girl from Bowser!" She said. "She must mean a lot to him if he's willing to do all of that just to save her! I think we should help him out. Don't you?"

Mario nodded. "We were going to save her, anyway."

"Yes!" Luigi agreed. "We'll take him with us!"

Peach smiled, and turned back to Jack. "Well Jack, Mario and Luigi were just going to save Sally from Bowser, anyway. You can go with them if you'd like."

"Really?" Jack looked immensely relieved, and very grateful. "Oh, thank you! I can't begin to tell you how much this means to me."

"Hey, it's what Mario and Luigi do, Jack!" Goombella winked. "They've got your back! They'll help you save your girlfriend!"

A sheepish smile came to Jack's face before he cleared his throat. "I appreciate that, very much!"

"Anytime, Jack!" Peach said. "Goombella and I will be searching for the Holiday doors in Forever Forest. Hopefully...when you return, we'll know where to take you to get back to your world."

"Let's-a go!" Said Mario, beckoning Jack.

"We're ready now!" Luigi agreed.

"Good luck, you three." Peach said softly, and leaned down, kissing Mario on the nose, and giggled at how he blushed.

The three of them then set off, with the girls waving them off.

"Good luck, you guys! Totally kick Bowser's butt, and bring back Sally!" Goombella called to them as they retreated.

"Goodbye! Good luck!" Peach called to them as well.

As they went along, she prayed to the stars to keep them safe on their journey, and succeed. It was all she asked for.

"Well Peach, we should head to Forever Forest! Get this whole search thing over with!" Goombella told her.

Peach nodded, looking down at her. "Yes, we should get going as well, Goombella."

Because they were going on a potentially dangerous expedition themselves, they felt it was a good idea to stock up on some items that would be helpful just in case of anything. Peach retrieved a satchel and her favourite parasol from the castle, and then the two headed back to town to buy some various items in the two shops that the town had. A few healing items, as well as some attack items. Goombella also told her not to worry, her bonking abilities would probably be all that they needed.

Once they were stocked up and ready, making one last prayer to the stars, they set about on their way through Forever Forest.

XXX

"Where are we now, anyway?" Barrel asked yet again.

"I don't know! Now shut up!" Lock shouted crossly.

The Trick-or-Treating trio were now on a wagon that was being pulled by two donkeys. With no other method of transportation, they settled on hi-jacking this wagon. Or rather, they stole it when no one was looking. They were far off from where they'd taken it, long gone. Lock was at the front, holding a carrot at the end of a string on a stick.

By now, they'd been going on for well over an hour. It felt like an eternity, especially since they were in a foreign place they had never been to before.

Shock looked up at the sky, seeing that it was reddening, with dark purple clouds bellowing around. This was strange, seeing this kind of dark effect in a place they saw was so bright and happy. So much so that it made them want to cringe. As glad as she felt to see something looking all dark and creepy, she couldn't help but feel that it was out of place. Was something going on? Where were they?

"Hey, what's with the sky? Wasn't it all blue before?" Barrel seemed to speak her thoughts as well, since he looked up.

"WHOA!" Lock stopped the donkeys in their tracks, his eyes going wide. "You guys...look!"

The trio looked far ahead, through the dead trees, along the path straight ahead. Further off, there was a cliff, leading down into a pool of lava. A rocky path led along over the lava, and toward a large stalactite in the middle of the pool of lava, kind of like an island. Atop it, was a huge castle. It was completely unlike the castle they had seen earlier back in town. This castle was something of a creepy fortress, the kind of castle Oogie Boogie would surely love. Surrounded by lava, tall, with spikes along some areas, very dark and gray, with a metal drawbridge gate, and a huge head above the gate.

"So this is where they took her..." Shock murmured, eyes wide.

"Oogie Boogie would love it here!" Barrel exclaimed.

"Guys, shh!" Lock hissed. "There's definitely armed guards wandering around here, we'll have to be careful!"

"HALT!"

The three froze, turning upon the sight of a creature flying at them on a broom. It looked like a witch, considering it was flying on a broom, had a witch hat, wore a witch outfit, and holding a rod with a red jewel at the end of it. The witchy creature appeared to be female, dressed in dark purple, and wore round glasses.

"W-Who the heck are you?.!" Shock wanted to know.

"Me?.! How dare you ask such a thing, especially when you're wandering on King Bowser's territory! But if you must know, I am Kammy Koopa!" Said the witchy creature. "You three are just kids...shouldn't you be running to your mommies and daddies?"

"Hey! We're not just some kids, lady!" Lock protested. "We gotta see this King Bowser guy, he's got something we want!"

This made Kammy Koopa mildly puzzled. "...What could he have that you three possibly want? Not that it shouldn't be obvious, of course, he IS King Bowser, after all!"

"Take us to see him! He's got someone we want!" Shock said. "Right now!"

Kammy sighed, shaking her head. "I'm too old for this... Very well! I'll take you to see him...but step out of line and you WILL face the consequences! King Bowser shows no mercy!" She hopped down to the ground off her broom. "Come then!"

Lock, Shock and Barrel all shrugged, took their bag, and hopped off the wagon to follow after her toward what they now knew to be Bowser's Castle. What they wanted was in there, Sally. After all, if they came back empty-handed, Oogie Boogie would be displeased for sure.


	5. Eight Legged Freak

**Here we go, everyone! Time for chapter five!**

**I also love Kammy Koopa when she's in **_**Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door**_**. She is HILARIOUS! XD Both she and Bowser are! They were definitely such hilarious comic relief! X3**

**Anyway, moving on!**

* * *

><p>"Now now Peach, I'm sure you know by now what's in for you!" Bowser said in a sickingly but sinisterly sweet way as he entered the room where his prisoner was being held. "Terribly sorry I couldn't see you earlier, my sweet! I had such important business to attend to."<p>

"Let me go!" Sally cried, moving from the barred window. "I'm not the one you want!"

"WHAT?.! Who...or _what_ are you?.!" Bowser roared in anger and confusion. He recoiled quite a bit at the sight of the weird-looking rag doll woman. "You're not Princess Peach! You're some...weird...walking talking rag doll thing!"

"Uh...yeah..." The Koopa guard from nearby said. "Sorry Lord Bowser, we got her by accident since she opened the door and came out of the room first. We didn't even know Peach had any guests!"

"You FOOLS! Didn't I always tell you to CHECK to see that you had the right captive?.!" Bowser yelled angrily, and stomped his foot.

"Sorry, Sir..." Said the Koopa Guard in guilt.

"Please, let me go! You just wait until Jack hears about this!" Sally threatened, trying to be as brave as she could, despite that he was the biggest thing she'd ever seen in her life. He was more terrifying than Oogie Boogie!

"Gwahahahaha!" Bowser gave a laugh. "Boohoo! You can cry all you want, Raggedy Anne! Looks like your Jack's just gonna have to deal! Bye bye now, doll face!" He left the room, slamming the door behind him.

"You let me go!" Sally cried in despair, rushing to the door and pounding on it with her tiny fists. "...Please..."

Sniffling, she turned her back against it, and walked slowly toward the small, arched window. The only window in her room. The holding room was a small round room in a tower, with a single bed, a desk, and a dresser. It took very much of an industrial look, and it reminded Sally of her room in Dr. Finkelstein's lab. Her old home. What had once been a prison for her. Now this was truly a prison.

There were bars on the window, so there was no way she could climb down. Even so, the very high drop went down into the boiling pool of lava down below, and she didn't want to risk that. A high drop alone onto a ground was no problem for her, but into lava? She was not about to do something that stupid.

"...Jack..." Sally murmured sadly, holding her hands over her heart. "I'm sorry to ask you of this...but please help me..." A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "I hope you're all right..." She wondered if he even knew where she was, let alone kidnapped. Even so, she hoped he was still all right. With what happened to her, she could only pray that an equally terrible fate didn't fall to him. "...I wish there was something that I could do."

Turning from the window, she sat on the bed, holding her hands to her chest as her head bent low. She tried not to cry, but it was getting harder to hold back. The tears continued streaming down her face, worry and sorrow filled her being. Being kidnapped was one thing, but in a completely foreign place, with a terrifying captor, it was another story completely. Sure, she wasn't strapped to a table about to plummet into a vat of acidic fiery lava, but it was still something terrible.

"Awww...don't be sad, Princess Sally!" Came a small, soft voice.

Sally gasped, looking up in surprise. Right before her, floating in the air, was a little star. A small, glittering, golden star with little black eyes and a smiling mouth. The star was moving, and talking to her? Was this some kind of illusion? Or magic? What was going on here?

"What...? I...huh?" She blinked, unable to piece everything together.

"Oh, I see you're pretty confused!" Said the star, smiling in understanding. Yes, it was indeed a talking star. "Well, my name is Twink! I'm a novice little star spirit, and I'm here to grant your wish!"

"My...my wish?" Sally blinked again, and wiped my eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Just moments ago, you made a wish! A wish that you can do something." Twink said, flying closer to her. "Well, here I am! I'm here to grant your wish!"

"Oh! ...My wish..." Sally stood up then, looking to the little star with pleading eyes. "Then, you can help me? Can you get me out of here?"

Twink looked sad then. "Ah...I wish I could, Princess Sally...but I can't. That's something only one of the honourable Star Spirits could do. Please ask for something simple, something a little guy like me can do."

"...Oh." Sally murmured in utter disappointment. She lowered her head again, trying to think of what she could do. "...Well, do you think maybe...you could find the Holiday Doors? ...And find Jack for me?"

"Holiday Doors? Why sure, Princess Sally! I can do that!" Twink nodded. "And Jack? Ooh! Wait...he is your lover, isn't he? The Pumpkin King?"

Sally blushed, nodding slowly. "Yes. ...I...I just want to make sure he's all right. And if you can find him...please let him know that I'm okay, and that I'm here in this strange castle. I don't know exactly where this is, I haven't been able to see what paths were taken. But let him know I'm fine, I'm not hurt at all."

"Awwww!" Twink giggled. "Well no problem, Princess Sally! I'd be happy to! I'll go find the Holiday doors and I'll find Jack, too!"

"Oh! ...And would you please find Princess Peach? I want to make sure that she's all right, too...they were trying to kidnap her all along."

"Of course!" Twink nodded. "I know Princess Peach very well, in fact! That won't be a problem for me!"

"I...thank you very much, Twink." Sally smiled for the first time in all of this. "I really appreciate this."

"You're very welcome, Princess Sally!" Twink winked at her. "I'll be back!" He then flew out the window through the bars, heading off into the horizon.

Once more Sally stood at the window, watching him go, and then speaking out one last little thought.

"I hope Twink finds you safely, Jack... Where are you?"

* * *

><p>"Unbelievable!" Bowser griped as he seated himself in his throne. "I kidnapped the wrong girl! She's just some rag doll...not even a Princess! She's weird, she's all small, and...well, she's kinda cute...urggh! This is killing me! What the heck am I gonna do with her..."<p>

"Lord Bowser!" Kammy Koopa burst through the large doors. "I have three children here wishing to see you!"

"Ha! Like I care. If they lost a frisbee or something, that's their problem!" Bowser muttered, waving his hand.

"No! It's about your prisoner!" Kammy Koopa yelled.

Now Bowser was curious. "Fine! Bring the brats in!"

The trio came in behind Kammy, and the doors shut behind them. She motioned for them to follow her, and started to traverse along the blood-red carpet leading to the throne. Quite fast. By the time she reached the end, she was panting and tired, with the kids rolling their eyes behind her, as well as mumbles and grumbles.

Upon seeing Bowser, they were taken quite aback. If they thought Jack was scary, and that even Oogie Boogie could be terrifying, this Bowser guy definitely would give them a run for their money. With his monstrous size, spiky shell, sharp teeth, claws...by now the trio had a good idea NOT to set him off. At least, hopefully they wouldn't.

"All right, haggy, what the heck's going on here?.!" Bowser wanted to know.

"Allow me to explain!" Lock said as he stepped forward. "We are Halloween Town's finest Trick-or-Treaters!"

"Mr. Oogie Boogie is our master, he sent for us to come here, specifically!" Shock chimed in.

"By name!" Barrel said.

"Lock!"

"Shock!"

"And Barrel!"

"Uh-huh..." Bowser said boredly, rolling his eyes. "I don't have time for silly introductions! Now tell me why you're here and what you want with that weird rag doll I ended up kidnapping!"

"We just want her back, is all." Shock said. "WE were trying to kidnap her, first!"

"So it was a misunderstanding, Your Surliness!" Kammy exclaimed. "It seems that we did catch the wrong girl!"

Bowser ignored her, looking at the kids. "So YOU want her? Pbbtt! You can have her! But what the heck do you want with some weird, walking, talking rag doll?"

"Oogie Boogie needs her, to lure in the Pumpkin King, Jack!" Shock proclaimed. "Sally is the most important person to him!"

"His love-interest!" Lock put in.

"His sweetheart!" Barrel did a little spin.

"So you're using this Sally girl to lure in some Jack Pumpkin King guy?" Bowser concluded. "Ha! That's rich! A King and some rag doll? You must be kidding me!"

"She's the Pumpkin Princess, Mr. Bowser!" Lock said. "We need her! So Oogie Boogie can carry out his plan and take over Halloween Town!"

"And using her as bait is what we need, since we know he would come to her aid!" Shock slapped her fist into her palm. "So we need to bring her back!"

"We almost had her!" Barrel put in. "But we caught some other girl instead! That Mushroom Princess, I think."

"WHAT!" Bowser immediately jumped up. "What did you just say?.! Speak up! Now! I thought I heard you mention Princess Peach!"

"Oh, that's her name?" Shock blinked. "Well yeah! We kidnapped her by accident since she was wearing Sally's cloak, as Mr. Oogie described!"

"But she got away!" Lock griped.

"You let her get away?.! And now you expect me to give you your Princess? Forget it!"

"But my Lord! We have no use for their Pumpkin Princess! She'd be wasting up space!"

"She's still a Princess, and if her lover boy is going to come to her rescue, and we could take over this town..." Bowser said thoughtfully. "Hmmm...nah, maybe I'll try that another time. All right fine, you brats. You listen up! You go back out there, bring Peach back to me, and then I'll give you your Sally Princess...rag doll thing."

Lock, Shock and Barrel considered this for a moment. Especially since that WAS their original intention, before Peach had gotten away.

"Conference!" Shock announced. "Excuse me while my cohorts and I discuss this."

"Whatever." Bowser rolled his eyes.

The three of them got into a huddle a few feet away to quietly discuss this strategy.

"Excellent plan, my Lord! There's no way they will disagree!" Said Kammy Koopa, waving her wand excitedly. "It's win-win! You'll each get your respective Princess!"

"As long as they agree, you old hag!" Bowser shouted.

Shock stepped forward then, clearing her throat. "We've decided! We agree to your terms! It was originally our plan in the first place to make an exchange, so I suppose we can try again. We'll bring Princess Peach to you, as long as you hand over Sally in exchange! And give us your word!"

"Oh, fine! You have my word as the Koopa King. Bring me Princess Peach, I'll give you Raggedy Sally." Bowser said, again rolling his eyes. "Now get going!"

"Aye aye!" The trio saluted.

"Kammy, take 'em outta here!" Bowser waved her off dismissively.

"Yes of course, your Nastiness!" Kammy nodded before leading the trio out of the throne room.

"Urrrgghh...this better turn out better than I think it will..." Bowser muttered as he massaged his temples after sitting back down upon his throne.

"Sir! Urgent news from the scouts!" Said a Goomba as he trotted up to the throne.

"What is it?" Bowser asked boredly, thinking it was just some stupid nonsense again.

"It's the Mario brothers! They're headed this way for your castle, and they have this strange skeleton man with them! I believe they reported his name is..." The Goomba looked at the report. "...Jack...Skeleton?"

"WHY am I not surprised?.!" Bowser grouched, standing up from his throne. "They must be after that Raggedy Sally. Have you any reports on the location of Peach?"

"The last we saw, she headed into Forever Forest, sir!"

"Hmmm. You better tell those brats to head there before they leave here completely. Go! Now!"

"Yes, sir!" The Goomba nodded and waddled out.

"Mario..." Bowser muttered to himself, slamming his fist onto the armrest of his throne. "Hrrrrmm. That skeleton must be the same Jack that Raggedy Sally was talking about..."

* * *

><p>"So our next destination is Forever Forest. ...Where we CAME IN!" Lock groaned, kicking the wagon with indignation.<p>

"We have no choice! If that Princess Peach is still there, we'd better hurry and find her!" Shock hit him with her mask. "Besides, if she finds the Holiday doors, we'll know where they are, too!"

"Then we'll make it back to town, too!" Barrel climbed up into the wagon, and peered down at his friends, grinning. "Either way, that Princess Peach is gonna help us out!"

"Then let's go!" Lock hopped into the driver's seat of the wagon, taking the reins. "Let's head out into the Mushroom Kingdom and find that Peach girl!"

"We'll kidnap the Mushroom Princess!" Shock declared with a sneer.

The three laughed in a menacing manner as they rode off away from Bowser's Castle, heading off into the greater areas of the Mushroom Kingdom. Their new objective now, was of course to venture into Forever Forest, find Princess Peach, and maybe where she found the Holiday doors, and bring her back to Bowser's Castle. Once done with that, they would get Sally back, bring her back to Halloween Town, and have Oogie Boogie perform his evildoing once and for all to take over the town.

"Hey wait!" Barrel suddenly said. "Didn't that muffin guy say that Jack was going toward the castle?"

"Jack? Ha! So he came after all when he realized his oh-so dear Sally was in trouble!" Lock cackled. "Like that matters! He'll never find her!"

"But what if he finds her and rescues her before we can?"

Shock hit him with her mask. "Then we'll simply have to make a new strategy and get Sally away from Jack! Either way, we'll make sure she'll be used as bait to lure him into Oogie Boogie's traps!"

"That's what we'll do! Now hang on tight you two, we're off!" Lock snapped the reins harder. "HYA!"

The donkeys didn't go any faster.

All three of them sighed, knowing that this was going to be a very, very, very long ride back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

* * *

><p>Somewhere further off, within a deep forest, in the middle of nowhere, this was where our brave heroes were traversing. Mario, the fearsome hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi, the cowardly but still strong brother. Jack, the Pumpkin King. Together, they were looking to apply their forces of strength and will, with their knowledge and wit, to overcome the tough obstacles in order to save Sally. Even to save the Mushroom Kingdom and Halloween Town itself. While our brave heroes were barely beginning their journey, it didn't stop their motivations from growing.<p>

They did come to be an unlikely trio, given that the Mario brothers were plumbers and Jack was...well, an undead skeleton. That alone could've set off any kind of weird metre. But it didn't, because none of that mattered to either of them.

Mario and Luigi clearly could see that Jack was a good man (or skeleton, rather), and all he wanted was to save the woman he loved. They were more than happy to help.

Jack too, could see that Mario and Luigi were indeed very strong and formidable, despite being humans and mere plumbers. He felt confident that with their help, they could do this.

Now here they were, in a forest, trying to find the location of Bowser's Castle. At least, the one that they could reach to find where Bowser was holding Sally.

"They seem to be all over the place!" Luigi explained. "Every adventure!"

Mario nodded in confirmation of that. "One time, he had even risen his castle from below the ground, with Peach's castle sitting on top of it."

This astonished Jack, to see that there was such a being with this much power. "So this Bowser fellow...is indeed very powerful, isn't he?"

"That's-a debatable." Mario said, shaking his head.

Luigi nodded in agreement. "Yes! He may be, but in the end he's weak and an idiot."

"You said he never learns his lesson? ...Hmmm...I suppose Oogie Boogie had been the same way, as well." Jack said thoughtfully.

"Oogie Boogie, you mentioned him before." Luigi looked at the Pumpkin King curiously. "Who is he?"

Jack went on to explain about Oogie Boogie, who had been essentially the embodiment of the Boogeyman, and also the shadow on the moon at night. He went on about how Oogie Boogie was, unlike the rest of the denizens of Halloween Town, actually evil and the meanest guy around. He didn't scare out of the fun and spirit of Halloween, but out of pure evil. Even harming and killing others, no less. He didn't mention too much about his adventure with Christmas, but did of course tell about how Oogie Boogie had indeed been holding Santa Claus (though Jack still called him Sandy Claws) hostage, and then later Sally as well when she had attempted to rescue him.

"Oogie Boogie was soon brought back, and he took over the entire town while I was gone." Jack said with shame. He then paused a moment. "Wait."

Both the brothers looked at him with puzzlement, before they tensed and waited for a few moments. Something was amiss. They were in the middle of a large clearing in the forest. The sky had grown dark, as if it were nighttime, and there seemed to be a heavy feeling in the air.

"S-S-S-S-Something's close by!" Luigi stammered, trembling with fear.

"But where?" Mario looked around them, below, and above, finding nothing.

"Shh..." Jack suddenly hissed quietly, listening intently as his eye sockets narrowed.

They heard the noise. Crunching. A lot of footsteps. Only it sounded like several, very fast footsteps at once, which was very odd. It was almost like the flutter of a few bat wings at a time. Now they knew someone, or something, was nearby and closing in on them. Fast.

Then, it just stopped.

Mario, Luigi and Jack tensed yet again, keeping their guards up. Luigi, however, was still trembling and whimpering with fright. Mario placed a hand on his shoulder, still keeping his eye on the area around them. Jack crouched a little low, readying his little weapon, Soul Robber. He was ready. Whatever was out there, they would not back down.

It was then that a huge shadow fell over them, which caused them to look up. Much to their surprise, and even horror, an enormous spider dropped down from above! It landed on the ground with a quaking tremor in the ground, causing Luigi to shriek in terror as he fell to the ground. Mario and Jack quickly formed around Luigi, their eyes intent on the spider creature. It was huge, at least three or four times their size. Its backside even contained colourful round rings, which made Jack realize something. He had seen a spider like this before.

Back when Oogie Boogie had taken over Halloween Town after being resurrected by the Trick-or-Treating Trio...he had battled three spiders like this one. The first especially being one that had dared kidnap Sally shortly after he had reunited with her in the underground burial chamber.

Jack shook his skull, deciding not to think of that. _It's just a coincidence, it can't be the same thing! Oogie is gone, I made sure of that._

The spider creature reared on its frontal legs, letting out strange noises that sounded like a combination of a rattlesnake and some kind of grotesque clicking.

Luigi, in fear, looked around and saw a question mark block. With no other option, and since the spider seemed focused on his brother instead, quietly went over to the block and hit it with his fist. Much to his relief, it did contain a power up. A fire flower. He quickly touched it, and his clothes changed colour, while he felt a burst of warm, fiery energy coursing within him!

The spider raised on leg, and then sent it crashing down toward the ground where Mario was standing. Mario easily jumped to the side, dodging the attack as it narrowly missed him.

PLOMP!

A green-coloured fireball struck the spider creature from the side, causing it to shriek like a terrified animal in agonizing pain.

"Luigi!" Mario cried, upon realizing that his brother had gotten a fire flower power-up. As much as he wished he could have gotten it too, it didn't matter. "Good job!"

Now Jack leaped into action, twirling Soul Robber a few times. He launched the expendable goo toward the spider creature's head, while the end of Soul Robber took on the form of a spiked mace. The spider reared again, crying out in pain before it fell to the ground, very dazed and its backside very much exposed.

This gave Jack an idea. "Strike its backside, Mario!"

Mario nodded, looking around for a high point. Immediately, he thought of a good plan to defeat it. He quickly leaped onto some thick, solid branches of a nearby tree, and then hopped over to the other, high enough to be above the spider creature. Leaping off the branch, Mario then flipped into a ground-pound position as he came barrelling down onto the spider creature's backside.

It shrieked loudly, rearing up again, just as Mario leaped off to avoid getting thrown about. Then it shot webbing from what was assumed to be its mouth, narrowly missing Jack and Mario.

"Ha!" Luigi exclaimed with glee as he leaped into the air with his high jumping skills, launching more fireballs at the spider creature as he did so. "Take that! And this!"

Jack stood back, twirling Soul Robber like a lasso, as he waited for the spider creature to rear up again and then lower itself to expose its head at a better striking range. The spider hissed/clicked and crawled its way toward Jack, lowering its head. Now he struck the creature repeatedly with Soul Robber's mace formation quite relentlessly.

When Jack nodded to him, Mario yet again leaped up the tree branches to reach a higher point. Since the spider creature was some paces away from being struck at dropping distance, he had to wait as Jack and Luigi managed to advance toward it. In turn, the spider creature was backed further and further toward the tree.

"Aha! Take-a this!" Mario leaped down from the tree again, ground-pounding the spider creature's back.

Unfortunately for him, Mario was then knocked off violently as one of its legs managed to extend and knock him down. It put him in a bit of a stunned daze as he fell to the ground, but he wasn't too badly hurt.

Now the spider creature shrieked in agony and rolled onto its back, exposing its underside, its legs wiggling madly in the air, just as most bugs would do when falling onto their back. Mario and Luigi looked at each other, and then at Jack, silently wondering what they should do next. The spider creature wasn't defeated, as it was just laying there. At any time, it would likely do _something_, but what? All they knew now, was that it was not the time to let their guards down, and especially not get overconfident.

As Luigi looked at the spider creature hopelessly flailing and wiggling its legs, he came to realize a good way to stop it, and turn this situation to their advantage all the more.

"Jack! Jack! Use your gooey rope and tie the spider's legs together!" He then said, grinning at his idea.

Mario looked awed, seeing that Luigi was on to something as he turned to Jack, waiting for him to answer.

Jack paused momentarily to consider the idea, before he nodded. "Right! Stand back, you two!" When they did, he twirled Soul Robber faster above his head, concentrating. "Go, Soul Robber!"

He launched Soul Robber toward the legs of the spider, gathering them all together as the green goo expanded and twirled all around the spider's legs, effectively binding them together. Luigi fired more fireballs at it, damaging it more and keeping it distracted. Jack held the binding Soul Robber in place carefully, keeping his guard up in case of anything. Mario took the chance and leaped up the branches again, this time drawing out his hammer. With a dramatic cry, he leaped down, bringing his hammer upon the spider creature's belly before leaping away.

The spider creature roared in pain before it convulsed violently. Jack released its legs, while the Mario brothers stood alongside him now, anticipating its next course of action. After a few moments, the spider then exploded where it lay, leaving nothing but a bile of ashes in its wake.

"Yes! We did it!" Luigi jumped for joy, pumping his gloved fist in the air.

Mario sighed with relief as he took his hat off, scratched his head and then put it back on. "We certainly did. Good thinking, Luigi!"

Luigi smiled bashfully. "Awww...no, it was all you, Mario!"

"No, he's right." Jack smiled. "You certainly had very good thinking in all of this, Luigi. And being able to shoot fire! How interesting! However did you do that?"

"Fire Flower power!" Luigi grinned toothily.

That only left Jack even more confused, but the three of them shared a hearty laugh as they celebrated their victory.

"MARIO!"

The high-pitched voice calling his name sounded in the air, and the trio looked up to see a small little star floating toward them happily.

"Mario! It's so good to see you again!" Twink said joyfully. "Do you remember me? It's me, Twink!"

Mario's blue eyes lit up with recognition as he nodded. "Yes!"

"Yay! I'm so happy you remembered!" Twink smiled, and then looked at Luigi. "Oh! You must be Luigi! It's nice to finally meet you, Luigi! I've heard a lot about you!"

"R-R-Really?" Luigi looked starry-eyed. "You have?"

"I certainly have! Even your fun tales and your moments of bravery don't escape us star spirits!" Twink giggled. He looked at Jack, smiling all the more. "You must be Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King!"

Jack looked surprised at how a star was able to talk, let alone know his name. None the less, he cleared his throat and nodded politely toward the little star. "Ah...yes, I am."

"I'm happy to hear that!" Twink said. "I've been with Princess Sally. She's being held in Bowser's Castle, as I'm sure you may know by now. The castle is northwest of here, you'll find it! It may be a dangerous trek, but I know you can do it, Mario!"

"Sally...!" Jack's bones trembled at the mention of his beloved. "Please tell me she's all right..."

"She's just fine, Jack! 'I'm all right. You don't have to worry about me.', that's what she said!" Twink said softly. "I'll take good care of her, I promise! She'll be glad to know that you're all right as well, I think that's what really concerned her."

Mario and Luigi both chuckled as Jack looked down a bit bashfully.

_Selfless as always...thinking of others ahead of herself._ Jack thought, a goofy smile coming to his face. He looked back up at Twink again, growing serious, but soft. "Thank you for telling me this, Twink! I'm very glad to know that Sally is all right. We're coming to rescue her."

Twink nodded. "I never doubted that for a minute! Oh! She also told me to help Princess Peach find the Holiday Doors! I'll be heading to do that right now, and then I must return to Princess Sally's side! I think...she's quite lonely." He sighed sadly.

Jack felt a stab in his non-existent heart at these words. Lonely, and locked up. Much like in her old home. Long before Dr. Finkelstein had come to his senses. How horrible it must have been for Sally then, to relive the nightmare of her old home. How he longed to be able to find her now and hold her close, assure her that all would be all right.

Mario and Luigi noticed this change in Jack and could see he what he was likely thinking about, and offered sympathetic looks, but said nothing.

"That is likely." Jack finally said. "I must thank you very much again for this, and for keeping her company."

"You're welcome!" Twink smiled again, about to fly off, before he stopped and turned back. "I also am a star spirit that is working in learning to offer good dreams to the people! Perhaps tonight when you fall asleep, you'll be able to have a lovely dream! Goodbye!" He then flew off into the horizon toward the Mushroom Kingdom.

A good dream, that sounded like a lovely idea. At least they would have that, right? Jack snapped out of his reverie and turned to the brothers. "Well...we should keep going. Now that we have our heading."

Mario and Luigi nodded.

"Let's go!" Said Luigi, grinning. "We'll save your Princess!"

"And stop Bowser!" Mario agreed.

Jack smiled more. "We will. To save Sally, and the Mushroom Kingdom."

With that, the three continued on their quest. Now armed with a clear direction and the assurance that Sally was indeed just fine, it helped to bring a bounce in their step as they headed out through the forest.


	6. Takin' Over The World!

**Hello, and welcome to chapter six. :D This is where our diabolical villains meet for the first time! **

**And can I also say, Ken Page is AWESOME as Oogie Boogie? Diabolical and so over the top is just all part of the fun of his character, and Ken provides an AWESOME performance. I saw a video of him performing "Oogie's Song" live during a convention panel, and it was awesome!**

**I'm so glad he voiced Oogie Boogie again in the video games. :D NO ONE can play Oogie Boogie like he can.**

**Bowser and Oogie Boogie would be quite a perfect evil team! XD They're both so evil and diabolical, and yet so hilariously over the top! :D**

**Here we go!**

* * *

><p><strong>Today's song is a rendition of <strong>_**Oogie Boogie's Song**_**. It'll be called **_**Take Over The World.**_** OwO**

_Take Over The World_-Oogie Boogie, Bowser and Kammy Koopa.

* * *

><p>Quite a few hours had passed over the span since Sally had been kidnapped, and now Peach and Goombella were still having trouble finding the Holiday Doors. Any paths they would take either led them to go around in circles, led them right back to where they started (near the path taking them to Toad Town), or they sometimes ended up taking the path to Boo's Mansion. No help there, either.<p>

It was getting darker, and not just because Forever Forest seemed to be blanketed in perpetual darkness. But the day was already fading, as was the hour of twilight.

"Sorry Princess Peach, didn't find anything around there, either!" Goombella complained as she came out from some nearby bushes to where Peach was standing, waiting for her. "This forest is like, totally endless and impossible to find anything! We've passed that creepy tree with the face like, eight times now!"

"I understand, Goombella." Peach said kindly, adjusting the lantern's lighting level. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll find something eventually. Perhaps we should head back, to see if Professor Frankly found anything else?"

"You know, that's a totally good idea!" Goombella agreed.

Just as they turned around to get going, they were interrupted by a voice shouting to them.

"PRINCESS PEACH!"

Peach turned right around, recognizing the voice immediately. As she expected, it wasn't long before Twink appeared before her, smiling as widely as he could. She smiled widely, so happy to see her old friend again.

"Twink! Oh, Twink, it's so wonderful to see you again!" She exclaimed happily.

"Wow! A Star kid! I totally didn't see that coming! So you know each other?" Goombella asked.

"Yes! I helped Princess Peach one time when she was kidnapped by Bowser!" Twink said with a nod of his form. "You must be Goombella, correct? A student at the University of Goom?"

"Heck yeah! I am, all right! GOOOOO GOOMBAS!" Goombella declared, grinning. "So Twinkles, what'cha doing around here?"

"Well, dear Princess Sally of Halloween Town made a wish!" Twink said. "I went to her aid, of course! While I am still a novice in training, and still can't grant big wishes, I did want to pay some help to her! She told me to let her lover know that she was all right, and I also was told to help you two find the Holiday Doors!"

"You know where they are? Well okay, that's an obvious answer..." Goombella said, and tried again. "So you can take us there!"

"I can!" Twink nodded again. "I'll take you two there! In fact, we have some star guards who watch over the Holiday Doors, so I took it up with them, too!"

"Wonderful! Thank you so much for your help, Twink!" Peach said gratefully.

"You're very welcome, Princess Peach, and Goombella! Follow me!" Twink winked at them before he flew off ahead of them, beckoning for them to follow.

"Awesome! What better help than an actual star?" Goombella grinned.

"Oh yes." Peach agreed. "Twink has helped Mario and I so much before...I owe him very much."

The two of them followed after Twink further into the forest, taking turns and manoeuvres. Peach held up the lantern high enough so that Twink could also see where they were going, despite that she figured he didn't even need it. Goombella followed quietly along side Peach, keeping an eye out for any trouble, since she was closest to the ground. Twink led them through a series of bushes, and around some trees, before they came to a hidden path. They walked along it, going further and deeper into the dark forest, which only seemed to get darker, if possible. Peach had to turn the lantern on a lot brighter.

"Why the heck would they keep the Holiday Doors so hidden?" Goombella wondered. "You'd be lost and going hysterical before you'd find them!"

"The Honourable Star Spirits had not wanted the location of them to fall into the wrong hands." Twink explained. "Especially after what had happened before!"

"What do you mean?" Peach asked.

"I haven't heard the entire tale, but I do know that there was an evil being that had taken over all of the other Holiday Worlds, including kidnapping the Holiday Leaders." Twink said.

"Oh! That's terrible!" Peach gasped.

"No kidding! That sounds like something Bowser would totally do!" Goombella whistled. "So who stopped this crazy guy?"

"It was Jack, the Pumpkin King! He stopped him, and saved Halloween Town and the rest of the Holiday Worlds!" Twink said. "That's what I was told, anyway."

"Oooh!" Peach said in awe. "That's amazing!"

"He's a hero, like Mario!" Goombella chirped. "Even so, it's still pretty sweet that he's willing to go through all this tough stuff just to save someone he cares about so much!"

Peach gave a giggle at that, nodding, before she looked up to see where they had come. Situated in a semi-circle, were seven trees. Each of them contained a door, of a different shape, along with a couple of items on the ground below the door, representing the holiday. She and Goombella stared at them all with awe. These were the Holiday Doors...hidden deep within Forever Forest, and finally discovered after such time.

"This is it! These are the Holiday Doors!" Goombella cheered. "Oh, Professor Frankly has gotta see this!"

"Now...which one would be the Halloween Door?" Peach wondered curiously.

"Duh! This one!" Goombella hopped over to the Halloween Door. "Since it's got a Pumpkin, and Jack's the Pumpkin King!"

"Oh! So this is it, then." Peach smiled. "Wonderful! We found them!"

"Now you know where to find it!" Twink smiled. "Jack and Princess Sally will get home safely!"

"Twink, thank you so much." Peach said softly, gently touching his face. "I'm very glad you came to help us."

"Yeah! Thanks a lot, Twinkie! Without you, we'd still be totally lost! Now I can map the location of this place!" Goombella cheered.

"Awwww...anytime, Princess Peach! I'm glad to help!" Twink winked at them. "Well, I think it would be best if I returned to Princess Sally now. I'll let all of you know if we find any information at all!"

Just as Twink went to fly away, there were footsteps heard from behind them.

"Hahaha! Well, thanks a lot for leading us all this way!"

"Yeah! Now we know exactly where we need to go!"

"Now you're ours, Princess Peach!"

Peach gasped, Goombella stepped protectively in front of Peach, while Twink hid in a nearby bush so as not to be seen.

"Who's there?.! Come out, you freaks!" Goombella said fiercely.

"Why it's only us, of course! Lock!" Lock came out of the shadows, holding one end of the open bag.

"Shock!" Shock joined alongside him, smirking and holding the middle spot of the bag.

"Barrel!" Barrel came up on Shock's other side, holding the other end of the bag.

"You three...!" Peach backed up a step, her eyes wide. "You're the ones who kidnapped me..."

"We sure were!" Lock sneered. "Now we're here to take you back! 'Cause we've got orders now!"

"Come with us Princess Peach, we'll make it easy for you if you just cooperate!" Shock took one step forward.

"Like she's going anywhere with you freaks!" Goombella sassed. "Why don't you go pick on someone your own size?.!"

"Like...you?" Shock smirked.

"GO!" Lock yelled.

Barrel threw something toward the trees, and a huge eruption of smoke bellowed the area around them. Struggles and cries were heard, as well as bonking, shoving and ruffling of clothing. Even Twink couldn't see a thing, since he too was coughing from all the smoke.

"You freaks! That was a CHEAP SHOT!" Goombella yelled within the smoke.

"Nooooooo! Let me GO!" Peach squealed in fright.

"We got her now! Let's move!"

"H-HEY! Get back here, you stupid brats! Stop it!" Goombella coughed then, trying to regain herself.

The smoke cleared, and Goombella looked around frantically. Much to her expected and unfortunate dismay, both Princess Peach and the freaky trio were no longer there.

She groaned, shaking her head. "Darn it! I should've known they'd do that!"

"Miss Goombella, are you all right?" Twink flew over to her from his hiding spot.

"Twink! You're still here!" Goombella gasped. "We thought you left!"

"No, I nearly did, but I saw that those three had followed you two here just then and I stood by..." Twink said sadly.

"Oh! Well good! This could work! You gotta find Mario, Luigi and Jack now and tell them what happened!" Goombella directed. "I'm going to go back to town and tell Professor Frankly everything."

"All right, Miss Goombella! You can count on me!" Twink smiled. "I'll let them know!"

"Good luck, Twinkles!"

Twink nodded and then flew off as Goombella headed on back to town. While it was indeed a huge drawback to deal with, there was nothing more they could do except make sure that the Mario brothers and Jack knew what was going on, so they could save Princess Peach as well. It also didn't take anyone long to figure out that Lock, Shock and Barrel had kidnapped Peach in order to bring her to Bowser. So that much was easy.

* * *

><p>By now, night had fallen, and further off, still some ways away from Bowser's Castle it seemed, this was where the brothers and the Pumpkin King were taking time to rest. They sat around a campfire, roasting marshmallows (provided by Luigi, of course) and trying to focus on the tasks at hand. At the moment, they were unaware of what had happened to Peach. But it didn't stop the nagging bad feeling they had in their guts.<p>

The three often chatted among each other, but at times, there were quiet periods between them. Especially with Jack, since he spent a lot of the time, sitting there on the leg, his long thin legs bent at the knees, staring into the fire. His expression was unreadable, and yet the sadness and worry was evident in his eye sockets. At these moments, he was quiet as a mouse, and barely even moved.

Needless to say, Jack was worried. Very worried. It was a moment like this that he felt he failed as the Pumpkin King. He always vowed to be a friend and protector to the denizens of Halloween Town. But when he made foolish mistakes, it was at those moments he felt he let them down. And it hurt. Most especially when the most important person to him in the entire world was in trouble. Of course, he knew he had to be strong, and press on, and not give up. He had no intentions of doing so. He was going to fight this to the end, and save her.

But in moments like this, he couldn't help but think of how much he missed her, how worried he was about her, hoping with all his non-existent heart that she was going to be all right.

It almost reminded him of the time when he had made his way to Oogie Boogie's lair after his revelation in the graveyard in the real world. How his heart had stopped, his anger boiling when he heard Sally's screaming from down below. That she was in trouble along with Sandy Claws, something he had not expected, but would not take lying down.

Most especially because he felt responsible for it. If he had not been a foolish idiot, Sally would not have attempted to risk her life to save Sandy Claws. Once more the horrible thought of what could've happened if he had shown up just a few minutes later then he had...

Jack shook his head. He refused to dwell on that._ I have to be strong if I want to save Sally. And I will be. _He promised himself this, and would continue to do so for all time. He would do anything for her, after all.

"MARIO!"

All three of them snapped out of their reverie, and came to see Twink flying toward them now, looking panicked.

"Twink!" Luigi stood up. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it was terrible! Terrible! Princess Peach was kidnapped by these three children!" Twink said in panic. "The same who had accidentally kidnapped her earlier! I followed them a bit...they're taking her to Bowser, so they can trade her for Princess Sally!"

"Oh!" Mario gasped, his eyes going wide.

"T-T-T-Terrible!" Luigi cried. "Oh! What'll we do?"

"No...!" Now Jack was going over toward Twink. "Twink, I have to know...do you know at all what those kids are planning to do with Sally?"

"All they said was that they were going to take her back to this evil being they call Mr. Oogie Boogie!" Twink said worriedly.

"Oogie Boogie? S-S-S-Sounds very scary!" Luigi shivered.

Jack stood there, unblinking. Oogie Boogie. That could only mean one thing. Oogie Boogie was back..._again_. Now he understood. Lock, Shock and Barrel were yet again working for Oogie Boogie, and were kidnapping Sally as an act of revenge against him. They knew how much Sally meant to him, and that he would rush to her aid if anything bad happened to her. She was bait. Live undead bait. And he was falling for their trap, hook, line and sinker.

He didn't care about that, not the trap. Jack knew he could work to fight his way through Oogie's trap. But it was using Sally that made him furious. Treating someone he cared about so shamefully was just something that made his non-existent blood boil. It would've been one thing if Lock, Shock and Barrel were only kidnapping her as some kind of prank against him (which he still would have punished them for), but to bring to Oogie Boogie? That was going too far.

In his bones, he wanted to cut him down to size.

Trying to ward off his anger, he faced Twink with a grateful look. "Thank you, Twink. With that being said, it looks like we will have to also save Princess Peach."

"They were going on this flying machine, they could be there by now!" Twink said.

"Twink!" Mario spoke up. "Go and protect them. Leave the rest to us."

Luigi nodded in agreement. "We'll save the Princesses!"

"All right Mario, I will!" Twink nodded. "Good luck!" He then flew off into the sky and off into the distance.

The Mario brothers looked over to Jack, who was pacing a bit with a hand to his skull. Given the look of his eye sockets, he looked pretty angry. At what factor of the entire adventure, neither of them knew.

Finally, Jack just turned to them with a bit of a sorrowful and apologetic look. "You two get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

Luigi opened his mouth to say something, but Mario placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Now was not the time to argue such a thing.

"All right." Luigi said. "We'll keep going first thing in the morning." He settled onto the ground in the fetal position, tucking his hands under his head.

"Good-a-night." Mario settled against one of the logs, pulling his hat down over his eyes.

"Goodnight you two." Jack said a bit absently. "Have pleasant nightmares." He looked up at the sky, all of the stars, the moon.

An ache came to his bones, as he recalled all those wonderful times he and Sally would sit upon Spiral Hill together, just watching the moon and stars. They would sit there close to each other, talking about nothing at all but so lovingly, arms around each other as they snuggled, and then just having moments of quietly enjoying each other's company.

Sitting back down upon one of the logs, Jack sighed a bit and held his skull in his hands. His mind was overloaded with trying to remember the better times. Sally, his sunshine, his best friend, his beloved, his future wife... It was hard not to feel overwhelmed with grief at the fact that the better times only served as a cruel reminder that this was reality. Sally was kidnapped and very much in danger. If not right now, she soon would be.

_My beloved Sally..._ Jack thought, and then looked down at the ground.

There was a small red blossom growing there. Carefully and gently, he plucked it, and looked at it. It was through plucking the petals of a flower that Sally had the premonition about his Christmas being a disaster. She had also been plucking the petals of a flower when Jack had approached her that night, that Christmas Even, on Spiral Hill, declaring his own affection for her.

This little flower was a lovely shade of red, almost burgundy. Was that even possible? He didn't know. But it didn't compare, not to her rusty red, soft yarn tresses he loved running his bony fingers through, and snuggling his skull into.

One by one, Jack gently plucked the petals of the flower, then let them go. More and more he did so. For no real reason, either. It just reminded him of her doing this, and he felt compelled to do it too.

The petals carried and floated through the breeze, and seemed to soar away in the wind.

Jack looked up at the moon again, exhaling softly. "Be safe, my dear Sally..."

* * *

><p>Sally was looking mournfully out the window, sighing sadly. Twink hovered next to her, looking sympathetic.<p>

"Awww...don't be sad, Princess Sally! You're going to be all right, I promise! Jack, Mario and Luigi know where you are now and will come to save you and Princess Peach!" Twink assured.

"It's not that, Twink." Sally murmured. "I feel that I'm responsible for all of this. ...If I hadn't gone through the door, none of this would have happened. And Princess Peach wouldn't have gotten captured, or dragged into this... This whole thing is all my doing. And now I dragged Jack into it, too."

"Don't say that, Princess Sally." Twink said, gently patting her shoulder with one "hand". "I can tell no one blames you for this. And not Jack, either. If anything, he's more worried about your safety and rescuing you."

"That's just it...I made him worry so much!" Sally turned from the window, and sat on the bed again, burying her face in her hands. "I made a mistake, Twink. There is no doubting that."

"Princess... When I told Jack what I had seen and heard from those children who kidnapped Princess Peach...I saw a look of panic on his face that I really don't often see in people. ...He's terrified of losing you, and he's doing all he can to stay strong and save you. Mario and Luigi...they always fight for what's right, and they too will stop it nothing to help you out of here. And now with Princess Peach captured, it only adds to it." Twink said sweetly. "But don't worry. Everything will turn out all right in the end."

"...I can only hope so, Twink." Sally sniffled, raising her head to look at him.

"Princess Sally...what can you tell me about this...Oogie Boogie being?" Twink asked then.

Sally's eyes widened, and then she opened her mouth to say something before the door was thrown open. Twink hid behind the curtains of the window, and two Koopa guards came in.

"You! Pumpkin Princess!" One of them said. "You're coming with us."

"And don't resist. Otherwise..." The other Koopa sneered. "We can have your precious Pumpkin King nothing more than a pile of dust!"

Now Sally looked horrified. She had a feeling they weren't bluffing. Hurting a prisoner's loved ones were usually a tactic to get them to submit. She nodded and slowly stood up, going over to them. The Hammer Koopa tied her wrists with metal cuffs, tied on so tight that she wouldn't be able to sever her hands properly, and were attached to a short leash chain. The other Koopa, also a Hammer bro, tied a white cloth around her mouth, clenched between her teeth to keep her quiet and prevent her from biting her tongue. Not that it would do anything, of course.

"Now come! King Bowser wishes you present for this event." Said the one holding the chain leash.

The other Koopa stood behind her. "And don't try to run away. If you want your precious skeleton man to live."

Sally's eyes went wide again, before she slumped miserably, and was led out of the room. Twink followed after them, keeping high and hidden. Through the grand, gothic, stone, carpeted halls of the castle, they led her along. It gave her a chance to take it all in, since she had been in a bag before, and came out in her holding room.

But right now was not the time to admire the scenery. She was about to be handed over to Lock, Shock and Barrel, in exchange for Princess Peach. It pained her, now Princess Peach was going to be locked in here. As glad as she was to be free, no longer a prisoner and reminded of her old home, it still wasn't comforting. Not when she knew that Princess Peach, the innocent Princess who should've had nothing to do with this, was about to take her place.

Then again, she was to be taken to...Oogie Boogie. That alone surprised the undead daylights out of her. Oogie Boogie was dead! Jack had defeated him, twice in fact! How was he back again? Since Lock, Shock and Barrel were trying to kidnap her, she figured all too well that they had something to do with it, and that was what they wanted with her.

To use her as an act of revenge on Jack.

Sally wanted to cry. All of these events had transpired because she had to foolishly try to explore an unknown door when she should had just stayed away.

A rude tug on her shackles was enough to jerk her out of her reverie. She came to see that now they were in a large room. The throne room. Bowser was seated at his throne, looking to her menacingly as they all came in. Near the throne, was Kammy Koopa, standing alongside none other than Lock, Shock and Barrel. With them was Princess Peach, tied up in ropes.

"Gwahahahaha!" Bowser laughed. "Well there ya go, boys and girl! You got your raggedy Sally Princess doll thing! Now hand over Peach!"

"With pleasure!" Lock pushed the tied up Princess toward the throne.

"Ow!" Peach whined. "How rude!"

"Shut up, you!" Shock scolded. "Now grab her, dummies!"

Lock and Barrel beelined toward Sally, and the Koopa guards stepped aside, letting them take her. Lock held her chain, while Barrel stood behind her then, grinning. Shock joined them, the Halloween bag in hand.

"Good! Now we have our Princess, you have yours." Shock smirked. "We'll be on our way now!"

"No! Let her go!" Peach cried. "Please, she has nothing to do with any of this!"

"Sorry Princess, but she's no longer your concern." Lock sneered. "I'm afraid within a little while, this will be out of your jurisdiction! We'll be leaving now! Ta-ta!"

"Ooh hoo-hoo-hoo! Not so fast, now! Why stop here? It can't possibly be over!" A voice floated from somewhere above.

Bowser stood up from his throne, and everyone looked around in surprise. Lock, Shock, Barrel and Sally though, knew this voice anywhere. Before long, the green mist floated into the room, as if from out of nowhere, and floated down toward the floor before the throne. It then took on a form, the form of the burlap-sack form of Oogie Boogie. Everyone but the trip gawked. Even Sally did. Oogie Boogie WAS back! Though in a ghostly form!

"Who or WHAT are YOU?" Bowser roared. "Speak up, you weird green ghost!"

"Haha, why I'm none other than the Boogie Man! Oogie Boogie is the name!" Oogie Boogie informed him.

"You're the one they meant!" Peach exclaimed.

"Ah, so you know my name! How flattering for me!" Oogie Boogie cackled. "You must be Bowser, King of the Koopas! Pleasure to meet ya! So tell me, tell me! I'm sure you've heard, a couple of plumbers, and my own arch-nemesis of all time, Jack of course, are coming this way, aren't they?"

"How did you know?.!" Bowser demanded.

"Tut tut, in good time, my friend!" Oogie Boogie stepped around, and looked at Sally, before laughing again. "And I must thank you very much! You saved me a lot of trouble! This little rag doll here, is very much important to the Pumpkin King Jack! Ruler of the dreaded Halloween Town! But that's nonsense, for it is I who can rule that town better! Which is why I wanted my boys here to bring me the Pumpkin Princess! Being Jack's sweetheart and all, it's no wonder he'd rush to rescue her!"

Bowser's eyes widened. This Jack fellow mentioned earlier was not just some guy trying to save Sally, the Pumpkin Princess, but also a King. A King! Ruler of a place. He was liking this more and more. She was not only a Princess by association, but the very King himself was Jack, and she was his lover. "Gwahahaha! This is excellent! Those plumbers, the Mario brothers, are my worst enemies! Especially Mario! Always taking my dear Princess Peach away from me!"

Peach sighed, shaking her head. "Not this again..."

"Quiet, you!" Kammy snapped.

"Well! Then I'm sure you'd love to hear my plan!" Oogie Boogie said with glee. "Which is why, both our Princesses are stayin' here! With me so far? You better be! 'Cause we're in this together!"

"...Go on..." Bowser said, intrigued.

"First off, do have our dear Princesses taken away! After all, they'll need time to recuperate...before their DOOM!" Oogie Boogie declared.

"We'll escort her, Mr. Oogie Boogie!" Lock volunteered.

"Fine then. Guards! Go with them at once! Take them both to the holding room!" Bowser ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

The Koopa guards, along with Lock, Shock and Barrel, all led the prisoner Princesses out of the room. This was when Oogie Boogie stepped closer toward the throne, presenting his newly formed plan.

"_Well, well, well!  
>You want to hear?<br>I'll tell you, then!  
>Takin' over the world, sounding good?<em>" Oogie Boogie sang as the room darkened all the more around him.

"_Ooh! I'm real excited!  
>You're the one I need!<br>Together we can overtake our worlds!  
>Ha, ha, ha, ha!<em>"

Bowser was wide-eyed all over again. "You're kidding! You're kidding! I can't believe my ears! You're pulling my tail! You've gotta be! This can't be the real deal!"

Oogie Boogie continued to dance around, as he sang out toward Bowser and Kammy Koopa with glee and deviousness

"_I'm tellin' you!  
>You listen<br>You listen well, of course!  
>I might just let you in on my plan<em>

_If I don't die laughin' then!  
>Mister Oogie Boogie says,<br>There's cataclysm close at hand  
>You'd better pay attention now!<em>

_'Cause I'm the Boogie Man!  
>And if you aren't listenin'<br>There's somethin' very wrong!  
>'Cause this may be the first time you've heard the Boogie Song!<em>

_Woo-hoo!_"

Now Oogie danced around the two, twirling them!

"Whoa-oh!" Bowser shouted.

"_Woo-hoo!_"

"Oh!" Kammy Koopa gasped.

"_Whoa!_"

"Whoa!" Bowser and Kammy cried.

"_We're takin' over the world!_" Oogie Boogie sang in declaration.

"Then tell me now! Or you'll face the consequences! I need to know this, tell me so! The Kingdom will finally be mine! The Mario Brothers won't stop me this time!" Bowser urged.

"_You're jokin'! You're jokin'!  
>I can't believe my ears!<em>"

"Would ya shut those plumbers up? They'll be drowning in fears! It'd be funny, I'd be laughing! They really are too much!"

"Then now, with your permission...I'm going to do my stuff!" Oogie Boogie poked Bowser in the nose.

"What are you going to do?" Kammy asked.

"I'm gonna do the best I can." Oogie Boogie sneered, and danced away along the floor again. This time producing a ghostly pair of dice, which he tossed around.

"_Whoa!_

_The sound of rolling dice  
>To me is music in the air!<br>'Cause I'm a gamblin' Boogie Man!  
>Although I don't play fair!<em>

_It's much more fun  
>I must confess<br>With lives on the line!  
>Not mine, of course<em>

_But them, I mean!  
>Now that'd be just fine!<em>"

"Tell me now, how we'll set up this heinous act!" Bowser said eagerly, an evil smirk upon his monstrous features.

"_Those brothers, they're somethin'!  
>We'll put them in a spin!<br>They won't be comprehendin'  
>The position they'll be in!<em>

_It's hopeless! They're finished!  
>They haven't got a prayer!<br>'Cause we're takin' over the world!_

And they ain't goin' nowhere!"

Oogie Boogie stopped singing and dancing before he erupted into loud, evil laughter. It wasn't long before Bowser and Kammy joined in, quite pleased with the turn of events.

Bowser and Oogie Boogie had joined forces, truly creating a formidable team.

"With our combined forces, we'll take over the Mushroom Kingdom, and all of Halloween Town!" Oogie Boogie chortled.

"Awesome world-conquering tools!" Bowser agreed. "Gwahahahaha! All we gotta do is take out that bone man and the stupid plumbers, and we'll be golden!"

Twink, hearing all of this, managed to sneak out and make his way back to the holding room.

* * *

><p>"Stay in there!" Lock rudely shoved both girls into the room.<p>

"Don't try to escape now!" Shock said gleefully.

"Have fun!" Barrel chirped.

The door was shut, and locked behind them. Peach and Sally both sat on the floor in a sad heap by now. While Sally's wrists were released from their bounds, it still didn't help the horrible feeling of dread within her heart, if she had one.

"Oh, Miss Sally...I'm very sorry for all of this." Peach said apologetically. "I never would have wanted you to be dragged into this."

"It's not your fault, Princess Peach." Sally said sadly, managing to stand up. She helped Peach to her feet as well, and couldn't look her in the eye. "If anything, I'm the one responsible for this."

"No." Peach shook her head. "Bowser would have had me kidnapped and taken here even if you hadn't interfered. That was an accident. Even I fell for that slimeball's impression of Toadsworth. Miss Sally, please don't blame yourself."

"If not for me though, Oogie Boogie and that cad Bowser wouldn't have known of one another." Now Sally sighed, sitting on the bed again. "And yet here I am, weeping...I can't even be the strong, true Princess of Halloween."

"Oh, Sally, don't beat yourself up about that." Peach sat beside her. "Everyone gets scared and vulnerable sometimes. This happens to me...a lot, unfortunately. And even I still get worried and feel terrible. I have to put Mario through this a lot, and it hurts me to do that, even now. It makes me feel as if I'm weak. But...I realize that I can't sit here and mope. All I can do is be strong, and do all I can to help Mario. And you, Miss Sally, need to do the same. It's all right to be scared, and worried, but never forget your strength."

Sally looked at Peach, and sniffled a bit, feeling grateful. "...You're absolutely right, Princess Peach. I really should be strong... I'll do my very best, and I know it's what Jack would want."

Peach smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You can do it. I...have a good feeling you can be as strong and brave as you hope to be. Jack may be worried about you, and he certainly was when he asked me for help in rescuing you... But he was ready to face the dangers of a foreign place, to him at least, and save you."

A blush came to Sally's cheeks as she held her hands to her chest, where her heart would've been, and looked down with a soft, shy sigh. "I've heard... I just hope he'll make it, and he'll be all right. I could never live with myself if anything happened..."

"...You do...really love him, don't you?" Peach smiled more, letting go of her.

"...I do. I love him so much." Sally murmured shyly.

"And he loves you. Don't ever doubt that, Sally. Let the love you two share, give you strength."

"Princess Peach! Princess Sally!" Twink flew in from the window, looking very relieved. "I'm so happy you two are all right!" He then looked panicked. "Oh, but this is horrible! Bowser and that Oogie Boogie being are planning to take over both the Mushroom Kingdom and Halloween Town! But not just stopping there, they plan to take over the entire world after they do! They're using the two of you as bait so that Mario, Luigi and Jack will come, knowing they'd save you, and crush them!"

"Oh no!" Sally gasped, holding her hands to her mouth.

"This is terrible!" Peach cried.

"It is...but oh, Princess Peach, I had heard your sweet speech just now!" Twink looked happy again. "Even in this time of peril, you two do need to be strong! With that, Mario, Luigi and Jack will be able to defeat Bowser and Oogie Boogie!"

Peach stood up then, and managed to calm herself. She was, after all, quite a master at recomposing. "You're right, Twink...we'll be strong, for Mario, Luigi and for Jack too. We have every faith in them. Please...find them now, and tell them this. Tell them we are all right, and we will be strong for them."

"Twink..." Sally stood up as well. "I want you to tell Jack this: I have every confidence in you. ...He'll understand."

Twink smiled, nodding. "I will, I promise! I'll go to them right now!"

He flew out the window, with the Pumpkin Princess and the Mushroom Princess watching him go, each with a newfound hope and strength that the ones they cared about would make it through this cataclysmic series of events.


	7. Short Lived Reunion

**All righty! :D Our heroes finally make it to Bowser's Castle!**

**Now I know this is short compared to Mario's usual adventures, but to be honest, yes, I was lazy and didn't want to write a huge 50-something story. XD Maybe one day I will. But for now, this is a simple story that is short, but I hope still fulfilling.**

**At the same time, I hope I fleshed out things enough. If I didn't, please let me know. **

**Thank you! :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Today's song is a rendition of <strong>_**Sally's Song**_**, inspired by the rendition from **_**Oogie's Revenge**_**. It's my favourite song in the game. :D This time it'll be called "Miss You"**

_Miss You_-Jack and Sally

* * *

><p>A new day had come, as our heroes continued their journey to Bowser's Castle. It turned out not to be as far as they had expected. Twink had given them their current coordinates the night before, so they would have a better idea of how far they were, and how much longer it would take to get there. Strangely, it felt as if many days had passed since the entire horrendous troubles had begun.<p>

Only one day had passed, nearing twenty-four hours. Whether or not it would be over just as quickly was beyond them.

Jack especially, felt as if it were weeks, months..._years_. Even if yesterday morning had been the last time he saw Sally. They had been apart for days at a time before, so this should have been nothing.

But then again, those times apart hardly ever came with any sort of danger attached to it. Not since Oogie Boogie's return, the first time, had he feared greatly for her safety and knew she was in trouble. Now, not only was Oogie Boogie back yet again, even if in spirit form, according to Twink, but he and Bowser had joined forces to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, Halloween Town, and then eventually...the entire world. Why stop there? The other Holiday Worlds were surely to be in jeopardy again, as well!

None the less, Jack did all he could to remain strong. For Sally, for Princess Peach, for both the Mushroom Kingdom and Halloween Town, and for Mario and Luigi.

The brothers, meanwhile, were quite taken with this, too. It was almost expected that poor Peach would be dragged into this, but it did tug at their heartstrings none the less. Of course they didn't want Peach to be in trouble, and now to drag an innocent bystander into this, it was too much. They too, feared that disaster would surely follow now that the Koopa King and this Oogie Boogie monstrosity were joining forces in conquering the world.

In fact, the skies had grown darker, and it wasn't just because of them approaching Bowser's Castle. But everything around them felt heavy, oppressive...like darkness was spreading. It was worrisome, indeed.

Luigi was terrified, and he felt stupid for it. He always felt as if he were meant to be nothing but a coward. Even his accomplishment in conquering the ghosts that were haunting Boo's Mansion still didn't stifle his cowardice. Daisy had continuously assured him that it didn't matter, he didn't have to be brave like Mario in order to be considered a hero. At times he wished he could believe her, but he mostly never knew what to think. He had to face it, he was always in his brother's shadow. Mario was the big hero, a fact he had long ago accepted. As much as he was glad that he wasn't left out of this adventure, it did still remind him all the more that he was the coward of the three.

He was even intimidated by Jack! The Pumpkin King, scariest of them all...it was no wonder he was scared. What if Jack felt bored, and wanted to scare someone? Then again, Luigi came to see that he was like most "good" Boos. Someone who scared, because they could, they were good at it and enjoyed it, but weren't out to hurt anyone, and were kind. Jack, though a very scary being, was still very soft-spoken and kind. So because of it he did feel a bit more at ease around him, even if his anxiety of being scared so bad was still haunting him.

Daisy would sure get a kick out of it, of course.

Luigi sighed. He missed Daisy. She was off in the desert region of Sarasaland, and he hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks now. He made a mental note to himself to visit her when this adventure was over.

Yes, as scared and terrified as he was, he wasn't going to let that get to him. He knew Mario would triumph, especially with all of their combined strength. Mario did, after all, go up against the Shadow Queen herself, the very embodiment of pure darkness and evil! So why wouldn't he have confidence that they could overtake two power-hungry friends?

By Jack's stories, he had taken down Oogie Boogie twice before!

Luigi just hoped that he wasn't wrong in the long run.

Mario's hand came to his shoulder, and he looked over at his brother.

"Are you afraid?" Mario asked him. It wasn't condescending, or teasing. He was curious, and looked concerned.

Luigi nodded. There was no use lying at a time like this. "Terrified."

Mario smiled and patted his back. Luigi blinked, and then smiled in return.

"Thanks, Mario."

"No problem."

Jack observed the two of them with a smile as they walked on, glad to see that despite being terrified, in Luigi's case, they were still pressing on. He really had to hand it to these two, being just mere plumbers, and mortal human beings no less, and they still stuck through the adventure. Like brave warriors. And to see their brotherhood, something that bonded them forever, continue to remain strong, it was fascinating.

Looking further ahead, beyond the now dead trees, he could see toward the horizon, that they were approaching a castle. A huge castle, very gothic and creepy, with bellowing storm clouds looming over it. A sense of dread coursed through his bones, and somehow he knew, this was Bowser's Castle. It had to be.

"Mario, Luigi." He said, stopping them in their tracks, and pointed straight ahead.

The brothers gasped, falling silent.

"...T-T-T-T-This is B-B-B-Bowser's Castle!" Luigi said in a trembling voice. "Um...you two go ahead! I'll wait over there for you!"

He started to walk away back the way they'd come, but Mario grabbed him before he could go any further.

Our heroes cautiously approached, stepping along the path toward the castle, amidst the dead, bare trees. This was it. They had made it. The end of the line. Bowser's Castle. Right where their dreaded opponents lurked, and where the dear Princesses of their respective homesteads were being held hostage.

"Let's do this." Jack simply said, nodding to the brothers.

Mario nodded in agreement. "Mm-hmm."

"Um...we could still turn back..,heheheh..." Luigi said nervously.

Both Mario and Jack grabbed either of his arms and dragged him along down the path toward the castle.

* * *

><p>"Urgent news, King Bowser!" A Paragoomba flew in through the window of the throne room. "Mario, Luigi and the Pumpkin King are approaching your castle!"<p>

Bowser cackled, grinning with glee. "So they came after all! Too bad they didn't chicken out! Gwahahahaha! Let 'em come, but they won't make it far! Hey Oogie! Send for those brats of yours, I've got a plan for 'em!"

"Just a minute now! Gettin' all ready here, Bowsie Boy!"

Kammy Koopa was, meanwhile, setting to work on creating the solidified form of Oogie Boogie. She had managed to conjure up a workable spell that could manifest a spiritual form into a solid form, despite that it was quite difficult. Especially since Oogie Boogie's burlap sack body had been made with bugs. The buggy creatures, also taking spiritual forms, were a part of the spell also.

"Now, behold! My magic spell as it recreates you! Arise, Oogie Boogie!" Kammy Koopa raised her wand as it gathered the magical energy.

Lightning struck the castle towers, thunder roared in the distance, and the ground all around them seemed to tremor with quite a violent quake. The magic gathered, and then cast its eerie rays onto the spirit of Oogie Boogie, striking the spirited bug creatures as well. The evil Boogeyman let out a cackle as the magic surged through him like an electrical charge, forming his body, while the buggy creatures gathered in numbers all around him. Kammy cackled, proud of herself, as she then set forth the final portion of the spell.

WHOOSH!

There was an implosion of magical energy bursts, and when it cleared, the spirit of Oogie Boogie no longer remained! In place stood the solid form, good as new. He laughed, checking himself out, and then doing an eerie dance.

"Yeeaaaahh! Oogie Boogie is back!" He declared. "Now then...Lock! Shock! Barrel!"

Immediately, his three minions came right to his side.

"Yes, Mr. Oogie!"

"Right at your service!"

"Let us know your desire!"

"I want you to take that little rag doll, and bring her to that special room! We got a special plan for ol' Jack..." Oogie Boogie rubbed his burlap hands together in evil glee.

"Yes sir!" The Trick-or-Treating trio sounded in unison before they dashed off.

"Gwahahahaha! Even with them coming here, everything's going according to plan!" Bowser cackled.

"Indeed it is, Bowsie Boy! We'll be takin' them down!" Oogie Boogie tossed two skull-shaped dice, each landing on a one. "Snake eyes! Guess that means we're in luck!"

"Okay, you gotta quit calling me that..."

* * *

><p>Much to the dismay of Mario, Luigi and Jack, they could see that the drawbridge was pulled up. There was no other way to get across the gap with the chasm of lava down below, a sure thing they all wanted to avoid.<p>

"Oh well! We tried!" Luigi tried to walk away again, but was pulled back by Mario.

"We'll have to find another way." Mario said, already looking for an alternative.

"Hmmm..." Jack raised a finger toward his face as he frowned thoughtfully, also searching for a good alternative to get across. His eye sockets fell onto Soul Robber, still loyally coiled around and down his wrist like a snake. Then upon looking across toward the castle, he could see that the pillars on either side of the drawbridge would be perfect targets for Soul Robber to grab onto, and swing them across. "I have an idea! Go, Soul Robber!"

Jack launched Soul Robber across the chasm, and the green slime latched around one of the pillars securely.

"Hang on to me, we'll swing across!" He said.

Mario nodded and grabbed onto Jack's torso, and Luigi, though terrified, did the same. They both feared snapping or breaking his bones, but Jack seemed to know what he was doing. Once they were holding on as securely as they could, Jack kicked off the ground and then swung across the gap! It was a little heavy, but Jack held on tight, as did Soul Robber, as it managed to stay secure. Once they were on the ledge on the other side, Jack released Soul Robber's hold, and it returned around his wrist again.

"Whoa...we made it!" Luigi exclaimed.

"Yahoo!" Mario gave a little cheer, and then looked around for which way to go.

Further along the ledge, which was thankfully wide enough for them to walk and stand on just fine, despite that the edge WAS still a bit too close for comfort, were a series of small windows. One, Mario noticed, was left wide open. He couldn't help but wonder why a castle with such tight security (yeah, right) would have one window at ground level left open for anyone to crawl in or out of.

"Let's-a go! There!" Mario pointed toward the window.

They made they way along the ledge, occasionally sidling along the wall to avoid danger, and then slipped in through the window. As it turned out, the window led into what looked like a storeroom. All kinds of items, weapons, papers and boxes sat around the fairly large, dimly lit room. Luigi beelined for a mushroom sitting nearby, grinning, grabbing a few and putting it into a magical bag he had with him.

"Luigi!" Mario chided him, pulling back. "Come on."

"Awwww..." Luigi sighed.

Jack crept over to a door, slowly pushing it open and peering out. He turned back to Mario and Luigi, nodding to them that the coast was clear, and then slipped out through the door. The brothers followed him, and closed the door behind them. They came out into a corridor, where a blood red carpet lay along the flooring, the walls were made of stone bricks, and the doors were huge, metallic, and menacing. Brightly lit torches hung along the walls, lighting the way.

"Oh no...they could be anywhere in this castle!" Luigi moaned.

"Shhhh!" Mario hissed. "We should be quiet, and try to search without anyone knowing we're here."

"I believe Twink had said they were being held in one of the higher towers." Jack recalled, a thoughtful frown on his face. "If that's the case, we should ascend to the higher floors and try to locate the tower."

"In the highest room of the tallest tower!" Luigi recited. "Isn't that how the stories always go? What next, we can only save them at midnight?"

Mario chuckled, and Jack smiled a bit at Luigi's attempt to light up the mood.

The three of them traversed down the hall, looking for stairs. Simply stairs. Or even just a room that led to stairs. Surprisingly, they could find none of Bowser's minions guarding or wandering the corridor at all, which struck them as odd. Not even Oogie Boogie's bug creatures were anywhere to be seen.

That could only mean two things. One, they were actually stupid and had them gathered in other places, yet forgetting about others. Or two, it was a trap. To lull them into a false sense of security, and then fall right into whatever kind of trap they had cooked up.

Mario knew this from experience, Luigi did too, and Jack had pretty much put the pieces together as to why the hallways around here were quite deserted.

Now they stumbled upon something very strange as they turned a corner. Sitting in the middle of the floor was a question mark block.

"Gimme!" Luigi immediately darted to it.

"Luigi, wait!" Mario stopped him. "It could be a trap!"

Jack chuckled as the brothers argued and turned to face the wall. On the wall was a large portrait of who he could only assume was Bowser. He grimaced, staring at it with distaste.

"Whoever put such artwork here has terrible taste." He remarked, approaching the wall and leaning against it for a moment, while he waited for them to stop arguing.

"How bad can it be?" Luigi popped the block with his fist.

Nothing happened, and nothing even came out of it. It just disappeared.

Mario blinked. "...A red herring?"

"WHOA!" Jack suddenly cried in surprise.

The Mario brothers turned around in shock, and came to see that Jack was no longer there. Given his cry of surprise, it led them to believe that he either disappeared through a trap door, was abducted (somehow), or fell through a secret passage in the wall.

"Oh no!" Luigi cried. "Now they've got Jack, too!"

Mario was conflicted then. Saving the Princesses and the kingdoms were top priority, but when one of their friends went missing, what to do then? Stop everything and look for them? Or keep going in hopes that they would find their way? It was never an easy decision, and splitting up was not an option. He was not that stupid, and he knew Luigi wasn't, either.

"W-What do we do, Mario?" Luigi asked anxiously.

"...I wish I knew." Mario needed another moment to think out the next plan of action.

* * *

><p>Their assumptions were correct, since Jack had fallen in through a secret passage behind the large Bowser portrait on the wall. Hitting the switch activated it, and Jack had fallen through. He seriously felt as if he were falling through the door leading to Christmas Town, or even now the one leading to the Mushroom Kingdom. It was all dark, he couldn't see where he was falling or what was going on.<p>

"Oof!"

Jack landed on a hard floor, and thankfully none of his bones had snapped off. He stood up, brushing off his pinstriped suit of all the dust and pebbles. Rubbing his skull, he took a look around, blinking his eye sockets.

"Where am I?...What happened?" He mumbled.

He could see now that he was in a dark corridor, dimly lit by some small torches. With no other options, and especially no way of getting back up, Jack followed the corridor, hoping to find some other way to get out of here and find the brothers.

The corridor seemed to be going on forever, with no change in pattern at all. Jack wanted to break into a run to save himself time and get out of here faster, but he had a feeling that would be a bad idea, and lead him into some kind of a trap that he could have avoided if he had not been so careless.

As he went along, Jack scanned the floors and walls carefully, checking for booby traps. A hallway like this would surely contain them, wouldn't they? Then again, he had a pretty good idea what they would be. Spikes coming out from the walls, arrows flying toward him, a pendulum, poles and spikes blocking his path, trap doors, he'd seen them all.

Surprisingly, none such thing came to pass. Instead, he came upon a door. Trying the knob, it was unlocked, so he went through.

He found himself in a large room, with a few of those large green pipes situated around. Mario and Luigi had said they were warp pipes, which Jack found to be pretty fascinating. To be able to get to different places through pipes! Pipe travel! He rather liked it.

But immediately his attention was caught elsewhere.

In the middle of the room, all alone, stood Sally. There was no mistaking it. Her omnipresent patchwork dress, black short-heeled shoes, black and white striped socks, rusty red hair, and her angelic, pale blue face...

"Sally!" Jack exclaimed in happiness.

"Jack!" Sally cried happily.

Immediately the two rushed to each other, and clasped each other's hands. It was very reminiscent of the time he had found her in the underground burial chamber after searching for her, feeling so worried of her safety...

But that wasn't enough. Jack immediately pulled her into a loving embrace, holding her tightly, but so gently. Sally returned it, laying her head against his chest.

"My darling, thank Halloween you're all right!" Jack exclaimed, unable to help it. He was so happy! Sally was okay, and with him again, now they would be able to get out of here.

"Jack...I'm so glad you're all right, too. You made it all this way..." Sally raised her head to look up at him.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, Jack smiled lovingly. "Of course I did! Sally, you know I would do anything for you. I would travel to the ends of the world, over the highest mountains, under the deepest oceans, to save your life. I swear it."

Touched, Sally looked at him with so much love, unable to help a few tears pooling in her eyes. Her arms tightened around him. "Jack...oh...I love you."

His heart soared, and he lay his forehead against hers, running his fingers through her soft yarn hair. "I love you too, my Sally. I'll get you out of here."

Unable to hold back any longer, now glad to be reunited, the two leaned in to share a kiss. But that was when a very nasty and unwelcome interruption came to pass, making them all but jump.

"Hahahaha! Well, what a touching reunion!"

"Too bad all good things must come to an end!"

"Thank you for conveniently walking into our trap, Jack!"

Those voices... Jack realized Lock, Shock and Barrel had led him into a trap! Before he had any time to process this, Sally suddenly shouted before she pushed him aside and was then screaming.

Falling to the floor again, Jack looked up and much to his horror, Sally was caught in a net! Now he understood why she pushed him away. She had intercepted the net's target, which had been both of them, but she pushed him out of the way so he wouldn't get caught, too.

"No! Sally!" Jack cried, bolting up. "Let her go!"

"Nya nya nyaaaah!" Lock, Shock and Barrel sneered from an upper ledge, blowing raspberries.

Sally, still in the net, was suspended in the air far above floor and far beyond his reach. But that wasn't the only trouble. Jack could now see that there was a flock of these Mushroom Kingdom creatures coming right at him! Goombas, Magikoopas, and Koopas with various weapons. He had seen these creatures on the journey to the castle, with Mario and Luigi easily trouncing them, which he eventually joined in doing.

"Jack! Be careful!" Sally called from the net.

"I'll take care of them, Sally!" Jack assured, already twirling Soul Robber like a lasso. With a quick, expendable launch, he quickly and easily knocked out several Goombas and a few Koopas.

But this wasn't looking good. More and more of the creatures came out from within the shadows, as if out of nowhere (though Jack figured there was some kind of a door or passage hidden somewhere in the room), but then it got oh-so much better. The strange, monstrous plants he had been told were called Piranha Plants, came out of the pipes! And they were snapping at him!

"No good." Jack managed to dart aside to avoid being within biting range of one of the plants. That meant staying AWAY from the pipes. They horizontal, coming out of the wall, with the plants poking right out of them.

"Watch out!" Sally suddenly said. "Behind you!"

Jack turned around just in time to see a Magikoopa firing a magical orb at him. He easily dodged the attack and struck the witch Koopa. He then got an idea to use one of Soul Robber's ultimate tactics. He fired the slime toward a few Hammer Koopas, latching on to them, and then twirled around in a circle with them at the end of the makeshift rope. He attacked the enemies with the long-range attack, wiping out quite a few of them at a time. It had been quite some time since he had last done this!

Stopping, he released the creatures, and then saw some more coming out from the shadows in their place. He groaned again.

But then, the sweet, angelic sound of Sally's singing reached his ears. Was she really just singing?

"_I should have known not to go through  
>When I was alone and without you<em>..."

Yes! Sally was indeed singing! Even in peril, she found the will and strength to express herself, and Jack felt all the more empowered by it. With this new found and wondrous strength and motivation, he continued at wiping out his opponents. It was indeed very reminiscent of their song during the fight he'd had with that spider creature that had captured her back in the underground burial chamber.

"_While it was a risky thing  
>You never knew what this would bring<em>" Jack sang as well, joining her.

"_But danger has fallen to everyone_"

"_And I am ready  
>To help save this Kingdom<em>"

"_Dearest Jack I miss you so  
>That much I hope you know, right here and now<em>

_What will become of you, my love?  
>Now that you've become involved too?<em>"

Jack met Sally's eyes and gaze as he looked up for a brief moment. He could see that she was ashamed. It tugged at his heartstrings as he realized that she must have felt responsible for all that had come to happen. But that wasn't true. He was neither angry or resentful, never. It was a case of bad luck.

"_You know dear Sally, I miss you so  
>I will stop it nothing to save you<em>"

"_There's so much danger you must get through_"

"_But I'm not worried  
>To your aid I hurried<em>"

"_Now we must stop  
>That evil Oogie and Koopa King<br>It will not be for nothing..._" Both Jack and Sally sang together.

More and more of Bowser's minions were being defeated, despite more coming in their place. He even then attacked at some Piranha Plants, by grapling them with Soul Robber and launching them at the other enemies.

"_I should have known not to go through  
>When I was alone and without you...<em>"

"_While it was a risky thing  
>You never knew what this would bring<em>"

"_But danger has fallen to everyone_"

"_And I am ready  
>To help save this Kingdom<em>"

"_Dearest Jack I miss you so  
>That much I hope you know, right here and now<br>_

_What will become of you, my love?  
>Now that you've become involved too?<em>"

"_You know dear Sally, I miss you so  
>I will stop it nothing to save you<em>"

"_There's so much danger you must get through_"

"_But I'm not worried  
>To your aid I hurried<em>"

"_You three will thrive  
>Now we all count on you<br>To see this crisis through  
><em>

_I should have known not to go through  
>When I was alone and without you<em>..."

"_While it was a risky thing  
>You never knew what this would bring<em>"

"_But danger has fallen to everyone_"

"_And I am ready  
>To help save this Kingdom<em>"

"_Dearest Jack I miss you so  
>That much I hope you know, right here and now<em>

_What will become of you, my love?  
>Now that you've become involved too?<em>"

"_You know dear Sally, I miss you so  
>I will stop it nothing to save you<em>"

"_There's so much danger you must get through_"

"_But I'm not worried  
>To your aid I hurried<em>"

Now the two exchanged one quick glance, before Jack returned to defeating his opponents. Surprisingly, it was having more of an effect, since they were lessening, with no more emerging.

"_If we just wait  
>We'll stop their evil plan<br>Then and only then  
>Will we be together again...<em>" They both sang.

Jack performed the "spin attack" yet again, and this time finished off the last of the Goombas and Koopas. With one last tactic, he wiped out the Piranha Plants, and the room was cleared.

"Jack!" Sally cried happily. The net was then slowly and gently being lowered to the floor.

"Sally!" Jack all but lit up as he hurried over to the centre of the room. Now he could truly save her and get her out of this place!

But then, just as she was lowered to the floor, Lock Shock and Barrel cackled and pulled the net right back up again!

"Sally! No!" Jack cried in horror.

"Jack!" Sally screamed.

"Hahahaha! You didn't think it was going to be THAT easy, did you?" Shock cackled.

"You're not getting her back like this!" Lock sneered. "Not when Oogie Boogie and Lord Bowser need her!"

"You'll just have to defeat them if you want her back so much! But like that would work!" Barrel snickered.

"You want her? Come and get her!" Shock blew a raspberry.

"You impudent brats!" Jack roared. "You give her back to me!"

"Not a chance!" The three said in unison before they took the net, and carried it out of the room through the door atop the ledge.

"Have fun down here, Jack! You'll be here awhile!"

Jack felt his heart, if he had one, just drop to the floor. He fell to his knees, all but collapsing, his hands supporting him on the floor. "No...no... Sally...no..." He wanted to cry. He had been this close to saving her. This close.

But he had fallen into a trap. Now he was paying for it. He was stuck down here, with no way out.

"I couldn't even save the woman I love..." Jack uttered to himself, his voice breaking. "My poor Sally... Having to endure such peril, such trouble...all because I fell into their trap."

It had all come down then. Sally having gotten kidnapped, and becoming isolated and alone, much like her old life. Oogie Boogie returning, and using her as bait, putting her in danger for some sick game of revenge. Bowser now working alongside him to take over both the Mushroom Kingdom and Halloween Town, then world. Then kidnapping Princess Peach. Bringing two heroic but still human plumbers into his own troubles when they could have been doing something better with their time. Then falling into a trap, finding Sally at long last...only for her to actually push him out of the way of being caught in a net. Then fighting off enemies to try save her, only to be tricked. Now she was gone again, and in more trouble than before, he knew. And now he couldn't even help her.

For the first time in probably centuries, Jack began to weep.

* * *

><p>"Hurry, Mario!" Luigi called down to him.<p>

"Don't-a worry!" Mario called back.

Mario dropped down to the ground, leaving the rope. The plan now, was to go down a trapdoor they had found near the wall where Jack had disappeared. Since Luigi actually grabbed some rope from the storeroom they had come into, they used it to their advantage. Luigi stayed atop the hole, with the rope secured, and so that no one would cut the rope. Yes, splitting up wasn't always the best idea, but they weren't about to risk both of them going down there with no one to watch the rope. They had a feeling one of Bowser's minions would come to cut the rope if no one was there to watch it.

There was a door ahead of him, and a dark corridor behind him. Mario chanced it and went through the door to see what was in there first.

He came into a room, a large room. There was a lot of light, and aside from some pipes, and another door, nothing was in here.

That is until he came to see the sight of Jack, kneeling on the floor, his skull buried in his hands. Was he...sad? Crying? Mario could swear he heard sobs coming from him.

"Jack! Jack, are you all right?"

Jack looked up then, and wiped his eye sockets with his sleeve. Once he registered what was happening, he looked really surprised then, and stood up. "Mario! How did you get down here?"

"We found a trapdoor! It was near the spot you disappeared!" Mario explained. "We took a rope and I came down to see what was down here. What happened? You've been down here for quite a long while!"

A sting of guilt coursed through his bones. "I'm sorry, Mario. When I came down here, I..." Jack looked at his hands. The hands that had just moments ago once again touched his beloved. "I saw Sally. She was right in the middle of this room. But then she was captured in a net, by Lock, Shock and Barrel...the same brats who kidnapped Princess Peach. Much of Bowser's minions poured into this room to attack me, but I fought them off. Then I was tricked. They lowered Sally toward the ground in the net, but then pulled her up and took her away. ...I couldn't save her. I failed her..."

Mario's eyes went wide, and could just imagine what he must've been going through. He was literally steps away from saving the woman he loved, only to fall into a nasty trap, then have her taken away. That kind of thing had happened to him sometimes, when he was this close to saving Princess Peach...only for her to be taken away before he could even reach her and save her. That had always been a heart-wrenching moment. It always made him feel like giving up, feeling that he had failed her, and everyone involved.

"I'm-a sorry, Jack." Mario said softly. He gave him a meaningful look, and then patted his arm. "Don't give up now... She's still counting on you."

Exhaling, Jack realized he was right. For a few moments, he was on the verge of giving up because he was trapped, and all the tough aspects of the entire situation rained down on him in a wave of utter hopelessness. Even when Mario found him and had a way for them to get out of this trap, he'd still felt as if he had failed her. But that was not the answer. Throughout this adventure, he had told himself to be strong and carry though in order to save her.

It wasn't over yet. She was still alive, Peach was still alive, and both Bowser and Oogie Boogie still had to be defeated.

"You're right. I am the Pumpkin King!" Jack said with fierce determination. The sweetness of Sally's voice, her singsong melodies, and the strong will to set things right and save both worlds and the girls, all were the very factors to help along. The goals. The goals that had to be met at all costs. "And I will not rest until those fiends lie in defeat! ...Let's go, Mario. It was foolish of me to try to give up. I will not let that happen again."

Mario smiled and nodded. "Yes! Let's-a get outta here!"

* * *

><p>Much time had passed since Mario and Jack emerged from the room down below, rejoined Luigi, and continued on their adventure. The question now arose and remained. Where to go first? Find the enemies, or save the Princesses first? It was always a conflicting decision. Many times it was best to defeat the enemy and then save the captive(s). Others usually saved the captive(s) first and then defeated the enemy, when there was a chance for the captive(s) to get out safely.<p>

Though Luigi did have some experience in saving people under his belt, not as much as Mario, even he wasn't sure. A part of him agreed that it was usually a better idea to defeat the enemy first, and then save the captive(s), so that that way there was no chance of being caught and everyone could get out safely. On the other hand, there were plenty of times that the enemy would fake you out and then jump out when you least expected it during the rescue.

Jack could attest to facing a bit of both. The first, being the first time he had defeated Oogie Boogie. He was lucky, since Sandy Claws and Sally were in the same room as Oogie Boogie, so it wasn't as if he had to go from one chamber to the next for either task. But of course, he knew he had to get them to safety first, given that they were on a very dangerous rising platform table and were about to fall. So naturally, he had gotten them to safety first, before dealing with Oogie Boogie.

Another, however, was most definitely when he had gotten to Christmas Town as he was tracking down Oogie Boogie to finish him off once and for all. Sandy Claws was in trouble, being left hanging from a pole, where a monstrous train was going to cut the rope and send him to a certain death, or horrible injuries. Jack could either go after Oogie Boogie and stop him then, or save Sandy Claws. Naturally, time was NOT on his side, and chasing after Oogie Boogie and leaving Sandy there to possibly die was not an option. He chose to save Sandy Claws. In turn, Sally had even helped save the day by bringing the very same sleigh Jack had used when he had taken over Christmas.

Mario, meanwhile, made up his mind. He hoped, but was pretty certain, that both Peach and Sally were all right. They had to take care of their enemies, and then save the Princesses. Usually that was what he ended up doing whenever he'd walk into a room and find Bowser, or whatever other being he was facing, would be there. Sometimes, yes, it would be automatic given the circumstances. Other times, Mario did make a conscious effort to defeat the enemy before rescuing the captive(s).

However, the answer came to them when they stopped before two, very tall doors. The doors were dark, metallic, with engraved Bowser faces on either one. There was something so beckoning, so hypnotic about them.

Either it was a trap, or, their enemies were right behind these doors.

Neither of them had any time to think, because that was when the doors opened.

Beyond the doors...were Bowser, and Oogie Boogie, waiting for them.

The final confrontation was yet to come.


	8. Let Them Go!

**Hello one and all! This chapter begins the final showdowns! Will Mario, Luigi and Jack conquer the EVIL Bowser and Oogie Boogie, and save the Princesses, and Halloween Town, and the Mushroom Kingdom?**

**Let's find out!**

**Also, this chapter is short...and fairly anticlimactic, I know. But trust me on it, okay? :)**

**There's also a reference to **_**Corpse Bride**_**. ;) You'll know it when you see it.**

* * *

><p><strong>Today's song is the first two of the original songs for the story. :D One is called <strong>_**Let Them Go!**_

_Let Them Go!_-Jack, Lock, Shock and Barrel

* * *

><p>The three heroes entered what they now saw was the throne room. Up ahead, Bowser and Oogie Boogie stood, alongside Lock, Shock and Barrel. Not only that, but a large, thick, round black cage was held by Bowser...and inside the cage were Peach and Sally, along with Twink!<p>

"Mario! Luigi!" Cried Peach, clutching the bars.

"Jack!" Sally exclaimed.

Oogie Boogie gave a cackle as he took a few steps forward, addressing them. "Well well well! You actually made it here! Heh, so you're the Mario brothers everyone's talkin' about! But please, you're jokin'! You can't be the right guys! You're small, you're ugly! I don't know which is worse! I might just split a seam or two if I don't die laughin' first!"

Luigi shivered with fear, but stood his ground, as did Mario. Both of them said nothing, but their determination and sheer will was not lost.

"Enough of your nonsense, Oogie!" Jack snarled, taking a few steps forward. "You've gone too far! Release the Princesses at once! Or else you'll face the dire consequences!"

"Gwahahahaha!" Bowser laughed. "What are you gonna do, you big pile of bones? You've got nothing on us!"

"We will not let either of you get away with his! Set them free! We have made it this far and we will not back down now." Jack warned.

"L-L-L-Let them go!" Luigi added in, trembling. "O-Or else...! You're d-d-d-dead meat!"

Both diabolical villains gave evil, amused laughs at Luigi's sadly poor attempt at being brave.

"Afraid not, coward!" Bowser taunted. "The Princesses belong to us! We got 'em fair and square!"

"Looks like we'll have to teach you overconfident dolts a lesson!" Oogie Boogie cackled. "Let the evil plans begin! Lock, Shock, Barrel! Get them!"

"And time for me to make my own grand escape!" Bowser sneered, and hopped into his Koopa Clown Car, still holding the cage. "See you, losers! Say bye-bye to the Princesses, you'll never see 'em again!"

"Nooooo! Let us go! Mario! Luigi!" Peach wailed.

"Jack!" Sally cried desperately.

Bowser blew a raspberry and then flew out through the open window, the screams of the Princesses fading.

"SALLY! NO!" Jack yelled, reaching out in vain. His anger growing, he turned yet again to Oogie Boogie. "You won't get away with this!"

"Already have, _bone daddy_!" Oogie Boogie taunted. "If you want 'em back so bad, you'll have to go through all of us! Bye bye now!" He waved, and then disappeared through a trap door located in front of the throne.

"Nyah nyah nyah!" The three kids shouted, sticking out their tongues.

"Give it up, Jack!" Shock sneered. "You're in no position to plead for her life, since it won't do you any good!"

Jack fixated on them a moment, before turning to the brothers. "Mario, Luigi...you two stand back. I'll take care of these three. I have a plan..."

"B-B-But Jack..." Luigi began.

"All right." Mario said, trusting Jack's plan. He pulled Luigi aside, backing toward the wall to stay out of the way.

"Pretty bad decision, Jack! Taking us on alone! Now it's three against one!" Lock sneered.

"Now you'll have no help!" Barrel taunted.

"Anything that happens, nothing can save you!" Shock cackled.

Jack sneered at them. "I don't need any help. Not with what I need to do with you three." Pausing a few moments, he scowled darkly, pulled his mouth back with his fingers, exposing his teeth, narrowing his eye sockets menacingly, and sticking his pointed tongue out. "YAAAAGGHH!"

"WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAA!" The trio screamed in fright, with Barrel jumping into Shock's arms.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Luigi screamed, jumping in such fright that even his hat went flying upwards off his head and landed back on it. Even Mario jumped a little bit but remained simply wide-eyed with surprise at the spectacle.

Jack lost the scary face, simply sticking to an angered glare. "Don't think it stops here now, you three are going to get your comeuppance if it's the last thing I do!"

"It WILL be the last thing you do, Jack!" The three taunted, as if unaffected by what had happened moments earlier with being scared.

"Dance with us!"

Lock, Shock and Barrel hopped up onto a platform, turning on a strangely conveniently placed radio, turning on some music. They then began to dance, either synchronized, or free style of their own.

Catching on, and seeing a good plan, he nodded toward Mario and Luigi, then pointed upward. The brothers nodded, and Jack winked at them before he joined in to the dancing craze now going on. If they wanted to dance, he would oblige.

"_I told you once_

_I've told you twice, I'll tell you once again!_

_Let them go!_

_You locked them like common mice!_" Now Jack sang, adding in to the dancing they were all currently doing.

This of course prompted Lock, Shock and Barrel to join in singing as they danced along to the beat. Unfortunately for them, little did they know, this was all part of Jack's little plan to put a stop to them.

(LSB)  
>"<em>Forget it Jack<br>We knew you would come  
>Just as Oogie Boogie said you would!<br>You'll never get them back!_"

(Shock)  
>"<em>It's nothing personal<br>We're just under orders  
>So Jack, take your pick!<br>Either way you'll only become more heartsick!_"

(Jack)  
>"<em>I won't let you do this!<br>Your punishment is far overdue!  
>And that, you brats is true!<br>Now let them go!_

_How dare you use my dear Sally  
>Then to bring an innocent Princess into this!<br>Can't you see just what you're doing?  
>I will strike you and I swear I will not miss!<em>"

(LSB)  
>"<em>Try all you like, you'll never save them<br>You and those dumb plumbers  
>Can try all you like<br>But either way you'll end up looking dumber!_"

(Lock)  
>"<em>You're out of your jurisdiction!<br>There's nothing you can do!  
>Oogie Boogie and Lord Bowser take control!<br>The little Princesses will see to their own doom!_"

(LSB)  
>"<em>You can't scare us<br>Not with Oogie Boogie back again  
>Now with Lord Bowser on our side<br>We have a chance in stride!_"

(Jack)  
>"<em>Stop this at once!<br>You'll only be to blame for the chaos here!  
>Come to your senses, release them from their cage<br>Else you will face my rage!_"

(LSB)

"_Like we care!  
>Nothing can stop our masters!<br>Not when the world is theirs_

_We can just push you down some stairs!_"

(Jack)  
>"<em>I won't let you do this!<br>Your punishment is far overdue!  
>And that, you brats is true!<br>Now let them go!_

_How dare you use my dear Sally  
>Then to bring an innocent Princess into this!<br>Can't you see just what you're doing?  
>I will strike you and I swear I will not miss!<em>"

(LSB)

"_Try all you like, you'll never save them  
>You and those dumb plumbers<br>Can try all you like  
>But either way you'll end up looking dumber!<em>"

(Lock)  
>"<em>You should know by now Jack<br>Third time's a charm!  
>So give up now, while you still can!<br>Otherwise Oogie Boogie will carry out his plan!_"

(Barrel)  
>"<em>Come and try<br>We'd love to see you cry!  
>When you see your one and only love<br>Go bye-bye!_"

(Jack)  
>"<em>My dear Sally means the world to me<br>And you all have crossed the line!  
>I will make you brats pay<br>And take you down, no matter what you say!_

_Let them go!  
>Comply with what I tell you<br>Or else you'll have nightmares far beyond your wildest imaginations!  
>And that, you brats is true!<em>"

(LSB)  
>"<em>Try it all you like<br>We'll never give!  
>The Princesses will never be free<br>Just you wait and see!_"

(Jack)  
>"<em>I won't let you do this!<br>Your punishment is far overdue!  
>And that, you brats is true!<br>Now let them go!_

_How dare you use my dear Sally  
>Then to bring an innocent Princess into this!<br>Can't you see just what you're doing?  
>I will strike you and I swear I will not miss!<em>"

(LSB)

"_Try all you like, you'll never save them  
>You and those dumb plumbers<br>Can try all you like  
>But either way you'll end up looking dumber!<em>"

(Jack)  
>"<em>You will know not to underestimate<br>With Mario and Luigi at my side  
>Nothing can stop them, not even back then<br>Nor will I give in to your heinous plan!_"

(LSB)  
>"<em>Hail to Mr. Oogie<br>Hail to Lord Bowser  
>Nothing can stop them in their wake<br>Anything you try is beyond your own power!_"

(Jack)  
>"<em>If you dare hurt my dear Sally<br>You will face the dire consequences!  
>Hurt the Mushroom Princess<br>The brothers will not dilly dally_

_I vow as the Pumpkin King  
>To save this world<br>I will not let them down  
>Especially not to these things!<em>"

(Barrel)  
>"<em>Mr. Oogie Boogie is the meanest guy around!<em>"

(Shock)  
>"<em>Lord Bowser never gives up!<em>"

(Lock)  
>"<em>Together they will make you run like a scared little pup!<em>"

(LSB)  
>"<em>And that, stupid Jack, is fact!<br>So go ahead and try!  
>We're waiting for your next move!<br>Nothing can stop our groove!_"

(Jack)  
>"<em>I won't let you do this!<br>Your punishment is far overdue!  
>And that, you brats is true!<br>Now let them go!_

_How dare you use my dear Sally  
>Then to bring an innocent Princess into this!<br>Can't you see just what you're doing?  
>I will strike you and I swear I will not miss!<em>"

(LSB)

"_Try all you like, you'll never save them  
>You and those dumb plumbers<br>Can try all you like  
>But either way you'll end up looking dumber!<em>"

(Jack)

"_I will not stop until this is over!  
>When we've saved Sally and the Princess Peach<br>Anything you try to do to stop me  
>We will make you pay, just you wait and see!<em>

Let them go!"

Jack made one last dramatic dance move, and that was when he executed his plan. He first launched Soul Robber toward the trio, effectively binding them together like a big rope.

"Hey! No fair! That was a cheap shot!" Lock yelled in protest.

"Let us go! You tricked us!" Shock screeched.

"Ow! It's too tight!" Barrel whined.

"Not this time, you brats!" Jack said, and turned to Mario and Luigi. "Do it now!"

Mario held some rope that was hanging from the ceiling, while Luigi untied it from where it was bound to a peg in the floor. Once it was untied, Mario released the rope. Jack released Soul Robber from the trio, just in time for a huge black cage to come crashing down. It encased the trio in it, having been what the rope was attached to.

The plan had been that Jack would dance along with Lock, Shock and Barrel as a way to distract them, giving in to their silly little game. Little did they realize, he had seen the cage up above, which was no doubt some kind of a trap for him and the brothers. That had been why he told Mario and Luigi to stay out of the way.

Now, he had one last thing to do.

"Who would have thought Oogie Boogie would have been stupid enough to use this curse on you three..." Jack mused as he walked over to the cage. Crossing his arms, he uttered one simple word. "Hopscotch."

Nothing happened then. Or at least, so it seemed. Lock, Shock and Barrel just blinked a few times, and looked a little confused and disoriented.

"What...what just happened?" Shock wondered, and looked to see Lock and Barrel on either side of her, in a cage, and then saw Jack. "Whoa! Hey!"

"Where in the heck are we?" Lock wanted to know.

"I think I wet myself!" Barrel moaned.

Mario and Luigi came over to Jack's side, peering in at the kids as they now could see that they were clearly confused now, wondering what he had done to make them this way.

"Why are we in a cage? Let us out!" Shock demanded.

Jack shook his head. "You three were under Oogie Boogie's curse. I had wondered why you seemed so bent on following him again, after what had happened before. But now I see he used that stupid old curse...clearly as a spirit he had no other options."

"Curse?" Lock frowned. "What the heck do you mean?"

"I want to know, too!" Said Luigi.

"Tell us about it." Mario agreed, seconding Luigi's notion.

"The curse is the simplest, but stupidest form of manipulation." Jack explained. "It's very easy to cast and activate, but it's also incredibly easy to break. That's why it's mostly used for practicing and improving. One word breaks the curse. Hopscotch."

"Wait! I remember now, Oogie Boogie came back and then, all this weird stuff happened! I thought we were dreaming!" Shock declared. "Whatever, let us out!"

"No." Jack shook his head. "You three are still in trouble for the chaos you helped cause. You're staying right here, just until we go home."

"Hey! No fair! We were out of it! Let us out!" Lock demanded, trying to shake the steel cage, but to no avail.

"Nyah nyah nyah!" Luigi blew a raspberry, but was elbowed by Mario. "You can't get us now!"

Mario turned to them both then. "We should get going...we have to find them now."

Jack nodded, as did Luigi. "We'll get going then. You three are to stay put! That's an order! Before we go, we have some questions for you three."

* * *

><p>"Make yourselves comfortable, Princesses!" Bowser said gleefully as he set the cage down on the rooftop. "You'll be here for a while! If those pathetic idiots make it all the way here, I'll send them flying off this roof!"<p>

"A battle on the rooftop...Bowser, can I just say that I have seen this so many times? I think maybe originality would be a much better idea." Peach said a bit sarcastically.

Bowser just laughed. "Gwahahahaha! Real nice, Peach! But I don't think sarcasm suits your personality! Complain all you want though, won't do you any good! Bye bye now!" He went through a nearby door and slammed it behind him.

Peach sighed, shaking her head as she looked at Twink and Sally. "At least they made it this far...just as I thought they would."

"I'm just glad they made it safely...I don't know what I would do if something horrible happened to them." Sally sighed softly then, raising her knees up and hugging them to her chest.

She still felt a touch of despair after what had happened in the underground room, how she had gotten to see Jack again...after what seemed like such a long time. How long had it even been? She had no concept of time around here. But to see him, actually feel him holding her, the sound of his voice, to feel him in person, and then to have it ripped away from her. It made her realize just how much she missed him all the more. It even further cemented her fear of losing him for good. As strong as she was trying to be, it was not helping.

"Sally...I'm sorry about what had happened down there earlier." Peach said softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I've had that happen before, too."

Sally looked at her with a touch of curiosity. "You have?"

"Yes. I know exactly how you feel. I've had times where I was kidnapped, and then Mario found me, but then I was taken away again, either because it was a trap or they caught me." Peach sighed softly. "I can always remember that it made me worry...made me realize just how easily they could tear us apart."

"...Oh..." Sally blinked once, and looked down at her knees again. Peach did indeed seem to understand that situation and feeling, if not more so than she did. She recalled the time she had hidden in the underground burial chamber, and Jack had found her there, but she was then captured by the monstrous spider creature. But that situation had been different, hadn't it? After he defeated the spider, she was saved, and they were truly reunited yet again. Then he had gotten the Valentine's Day door...which she blushingly recalled was so ironic.

"Don't be sad, Princess Sally." Twink said softly. "I think we all know by now that Mario, Luigi and Jack are not going to back down. They've made it this far, they're going to overcome Bowser and that dreadful Oogie Boogie! I know they will. I can feel it."

"I feel it, too." Peach agreed. "You feel it too, don't you, Sally?"

This made Sally think for a moment. She remembered the time she had plucked the petals off of a flower, and then it transformed into a little Christmas tree...only for it to suddenly burn to a crisp. The premonition of Christmas being a disaster. And how she'd been right, as much as she wished she were not. As scared as she was for the safety of their friends coming to save them, it did help that she was certain they would make it.

Sally smiled a bit. "I do feel it. I once had a premonition...about a disaster to come, with smoke and fire. ...But I haven't right now, I think...they'll make it."

Peach smiled too, nodding. "I think so, too."


	9. Down With Oogie Boogie

**To begin with, I'll do something different. :D I did write a song for Peach and Sally, but I just couldn't find a good place to put it. So, I'll be posting it right here before the actual story. **

**It's called **_**Take Them Down**_**, and as you may have guessed, I wrote it myself. :)**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! It's the Mario Brothers and the Pumpkin King against Oogie Boogie!**

* * *

><p><strong>Today's song is <strong>_**Give Up!**_** Which I also wrote myself. **

_Give Up!-_Oogie Boogie, Jack, Mario and Luigi

* * *

><p>(Peach)<em><br>Mario and Luigi have overcome so much  
>In these past hard times<br>Never once have they swayed  
>Upon standing their grounds they stayed<em>

(Sally)_  
>Jack surely will come through<br>When times are tough he stands his ground  
>Never giving up and cowering<br>Strong and true, his feelings most profound_

(Peach)_  
>In these dark times<br>Surely they will take them down_

(Sally)_  
>With their courage and strength<br>Nothing will stop their great lengths_

(Peach & Sally)_  
>They are heroes<br>Forever and ever  
>Nothing will stand in their way on this night<br>In their quest to set things right  
><em>

_We have faith in our friends  
>To stop these wicked creatures<br>As they work together, to save our lands  
>And take them down<em>

(Sally)_  
>Dearest Jack<em>

(Peach)_  
>Brave Mario, valiant Luigi<em>

(Sally)_  
>In time they will rise<br>And bring these evil tyrants to their demise_

(Peach & Sally)_  
>Bowser will crumble and fall<br>This Oogie Boogie will fail most of all_

(Sally)_  
>That Lord Bowser, how he will not win<br>Lest the Mario brothers will do him in_

(Peach)

_That dreaded Oogie Boogie, what scum!  
>Jack will surely blow him to Kingdom come!<em>

(Peach & Sally)_  
>They are heroes<br>Forever and ever  
>Nothing will stand in their way on this night<br>In their quest to set things right_

_We have faith in our friends  
>To stop these wicked creatures<br>As they work together, to save our lands  
>And take them down<em>

* * *

><p>"Tell us where they are." Mario said sternly. "Where are Bowser and Oogie Boogie?"<p>

"Bowser's probably taken the Princesses to the roof." Shock replied.

"Oogie Boogie has an arena down below." Barrel put in.

"That's what they told us." Lock said.

"You had better not be lying." Jack warned, and looked to the Mario brothers for a moment.

"Don't cross your fingers or toes!" Luigi suddenly said. "I-I know that trick!"

Lock, Shock and Barrel sighed in defeat, holding out their hands, showing their feet, and Lock proving that his tail also was not crossed.

Mario smirked toward his brother. "Not-a bad, Luigi."

"Heh heh heh...you know..." Luigi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Jack smiled toward Luigi appreciatively before looking toward the three kids again. "You three are to stay here. We'll come back for you after this is over. In the meantime, you can think about what you did."

The kids groaned as the heroes left the room, the door shutting behind them.

* * *

><p>After leaving Lock, Shock and Barrel trapped in the throne room, the heroic trio continued on their trek through the castle. It was now time to find Bowser and Oogie Boogie, putting a stop to them once and for all. Then would come the time to rescue their respective Princesses.<p>

It wouldn't be easy, that much they knew. Mario of course knew this from experience, having done this for a long time. Luigi could even vouch for it, too. Jack now knew better, and knew they were in for quite a final battle.

As they advanced, Jack stopped for a moment. He knew it was a foolish and stupid idea to just stop in the middle of everything for _this_, but he had to let it out, even for just a minute. After all, he couldn't help but fear a twist of fate smacking them upside the head and taking away all they had worked for.

"Mario, Luigi...before we go on, I want to thank the both of you for everything. We've made it this far, and we are very close to saving them, and our respective homelands." Jack said, not quite looking at them. "And I don't think I would have gotten this far without your help, with everyone's help. For what it's worth, I'm also very glad to help you all, as well."

Both Mario and Luigi chuckled, smiling.

"We were happy to help, Jack!" Luigi told him. "And we'll stick through this to the end!"

"Uh-huh!" Mario agreed.

Jack gave a grin. "Then let's do this. We'll find Bowser and Oogie Boogie, and put a stop to them once and for all!"

The three of them all nodded toward one another, and with their determination and sheer will, trekked on to find their enemies, ready to take them down, and save Peach and Sally.

Given what the trio had said, underground was where Oogie Boogie was, and Bowser was up on the roof, with the Princesses. The question remained, as to how they would get to either of those places.

A Hammer bro Koopa came at them, with other Koopas and Goombas behind him, as if charging. Mario stepped up to take care of them, recalling a very familiar trick he'd used before. He leaped into the air, stomped onto the Koopa, making him revert into his shell. He then kicked the shell, knocking down the rest of their opponents.

"They never learn, Mario..." Luigi sighed.

"Even after all this time." Mario agreed.

Jack wasn't entirely sure what they meant by this, but decided not to pry into that for now. They had more important matters to deal with.

* * *

><p>A series of crudely drawn arrows, for some odd reason, seemed to be what was leading them now. The arrows led to a door, which led down a corridor, then down more stairs, and around another corridor, down more stairs...it made them wonder if it was a trap.<p>

But then again, if Oogie Boogie was truly in a lower area of the castle, they couldn't help but follow and hope. It was all they had, really.

Now, at the end of another corridor, Mario, Luigi and Jack came to another door. This one actually had a sign on it: _**ENTER IF YOU DARE-HEROES BEWARE!**_

"Oh well, let's go!" Luigi said, turning and walking away.

This time, Jack grabbed him back.

"Stay behind me, I'll go first. If it is indeed a trap...well, I'm already dead, so it won't affect me." Jack said, and opened the door.

Mario and Luigi stood back, on their guards.

Behind the door was yet another staircase. But it was a spiral staircase that lead downward. Jack motioned for them to follow, and he started to descend the stairs. Mario and Luigi followed him, all of them going slowly, but briskly. Going too fast and too impulsively might lead to a certain disaster. Being careful was essential, especially since they suspected that it was a trap. But they continued down, once again, because it was all they had to go on.

_Then again, Oogie Boogie always uses the oldest tricks in the books and borrows from others._ Jack thought. _He was never all that creative._

At the bottom of the stairs was a pathway made of stone, and was suspended, like a footloose bridge, over a boiling pool of lava. Naturally, Luigi was terrified of it, and Mario and Jack knew they had to take extra caution when going across. The took a few steps, and it seemed safe enough. It wasn't very narrow, but not too wide either, and had no wall or railing on either side, so they stuck to the middle as much as possible.

"Luigi, don't look-a down!" Mario warned his brother.

"I-I-I won't, M-M-M-Mario..." Luigi said shakily, still trembling with fear.

Now the three treaded along slowly, carefully, all the while trying to keep their sights straight ahead, and to _not _look down. Unfortunately, they only got some yards away from the base of the stairs when the real trouble started. The pathway behind them started to collapse! And it didn't just break off at one section, no, it was all breaking off and coming right at them. Luigi screamed and dashed ahead of them, Mario and Jack at his heels, doing all they could to outrun the collapsing pathway.

"WAAAAAAHHH!" Luigi screamed in terror all the more.

It was then that a huge, round platform came into view at the end of the path. How it was up in the air, neither of them knew, since it didn't seem to have any kind of support mechanism holding it up. But at the moment, neither of them cared. They just leaped the rest of the way and landed on it, just as the path behind them was now gone. Luigi scrambled around, shaking and trembling and trying to stand up, while Jack and Mario tried to take in their current surroundings.

Jack suddenly had a bad feeling as he looked down onto the platform they were on. Grotesque, somewhat colourful, with an array of designs looking suspiciously like the symbols from playing cards. A roulette board. He knew only one person who would ever create something that was reminiscent of a casino.

"I knew it. Oogie Boogie is behind this." Jack said to the brothers, frowning in thought. "He's close by."

Before Mario or Luigi could answer, they stumbled and fell down on the platform as it suddenly began to move, causing tremors. It then rose upward, going higher and higher, toward the darkened shadows of the ceiling above. They all stood still, around the centre of it, looking up as it went, wondering where it was leading. Before long, the platform stopped as it came up through what they now saw was a hole in the same size as the platform.

Wherever they were, it was very dark. Not a sight or soul to be seen.

"W-W-W-Where are we?" Luigi shuddered, wishing one of them had a flashlight.

"I don't-a know..." Mario frowned.

"Wherever we are...I think I know what's to come." Jack looked around cautiously.

Almost immediately, a black-light came on, somewhat brightening the room, accentuating all that was white in the room. They could now see that they were ins some kind of a large arena, with the platform they were standing on being the central point. Bats, skeleton figures, and crawling bugs were seen all around. An uncomfortable shiver coursed through the heroes, as they now could see that this was indeed an elaborate trap of some sort.

That was when a pair of dice was thrown out seemingly from nowhere, bounced off Mario's chubby stomach, and landed on the platform at their feet.

A splotlight came on, and in front of it, was none other than the form of Oogie Boogie. That was when the platform began to rotate in a circle, much to their surprise.

"_Well well well!  
>You've made it this far!<br>Impressive! Trying to change their fate!  
>But from here on in, you're too late!<em>" Oogie Boogie sang menacingly, sticking out his snakey tongue at them.

He then leaped onto another platform a few feet above the floor, pulling on a few neon-blue chains, cackling.

Jack let out an angered, predator snarl before he leaped, performing an acrobatic flip, and landed on the solid ground nearby, twirling Soul Robber like a lasso.  
>"<em>Release the Princesses!<br>Else you'll face my raging wrath!_"

"_Let them go now!_" Mario chimed in, nodding toward Luigi as he and him leaped off the platform.

"_We'll make you pay!_" Luigi agreed along, seeing a good plan and leaped along a few strangely-placed crates.

Jack immediately then fired Soul Robber at Oogie Boogie, who let out pained cries at getting struck. He growled and then slid down some chains, now landing on a raised base of the rotating platform.

"_Ha ha ha ha!  
>You must be joking! Oh but it's true!<br>There's nothin' you can do!  
>So give up!<em>" Oogie Boogie sang, taunting them.

"_Never! Not on your filthy hands!  
>We will save them and our lands!<em>" Jack sang in, twirling Soul Robber then. He nodded toward Mario and Luigi as well.

Luigi picked up a crate, singing out a new bit.  
>"<em>We won't let you win!<br>Anything you try, you'll only lose!_"

Mario produced a fire flower, absorbing its power.  
>"<em>We'll do you in!<br>And make you two look like pitiful fools!_"

Now Mario shot fireballs at Oogie Boogie, who panicked and ran around in an attempt to try to stifle the flames caught onto his burlap form. Luigi took the chance by throwing the crate at him. The crate struck their enemy, breaking over his head, making Oogie fall to the ground in a daze, and Jack struck him a few times with Soul Robber.

Recovering, Oogie Boogie then got up and slinked away again, now on top of another platform.

"_Hilarious, I must say!  
>You three really are something!<br>But even you can't stop our evil plans!  
>We're here to stay!<em>" Oogie Boogie sang, and turned a switch, making swords fly at the three of them.

"_S-Stop this now_!" Luigi jumped up to avoid the flying blades.

"_It's-a over_!" Mario ducked, holding his hat over his eyes.

"_Ha ha ha ha!"  
>You must be joking! Oh but it's true!<br>There's nothing you can do!  
>So give up!<em>" Oogie Boogie cackled menacingly.

"_Never! Not on your filthy hands!  
>We will save them and our lands!<em>" Jack twirled Soul Robber again, readying for another blow.

"_We won't let you win!  
>Anything you try, you'll only lose!<em>" Luigi picked up another crate.

"_We'll do you in!  
>And make you two look like pitiful fools!<em>" Mario readied to shoot more fireballs.

"_We'll never give up  
>We'd give our lives for the ones we care for<br>As we save this kingdom all the more  
>From your treacherous terror!<em>" The three sang in unison, still preparing their next set of attacks.

Oogie Boogie only cackled darkly as he cranked a rotating lever.

"_You three are a scream!  
>Working until you burst!<br>I may just split a seam  
>If I don't die laughin' first!<br>_

_You're jokin'!  
>Nothing can stop us now!<br>GIVE UP!_"

"_Set my dearest Sally free!_" Jack launched Soul Robber against the dreaded creature repeatedly.

"_Let Peach go!_" Mario fired more fireballs at Oogie Boogie, striking his burlap form.

"_We'll free them, wait and see!_" Luigi tossed the crate at him, which yet again broke over his head, sending him in a daze.

Recovering yet again, Oogie Boogie jumped onto the base of the rotating platform again, cackling.

"_Ha ha!  
>You must be joking! Oh but it's true!<br>There's nothin' you can do!  
>So give up!<em>"

"_Never! Not on your filthy hands!  
>We will save them and our lands!<em>"

"_We won't let you win!  
>Anything you try, you'll only lose!<em>"

"_We'll do you in!  
>And make you two look like pitiful fools!<em>"

Mario and Luigi then nodded to each other, and then at Jack, who smirked and nodded right back. Tossing his hammer, Luigi caught it, leaped onto a higher-set crate, and tied the end of a chain around the handle.  
>"<em>We're the Mario brothers!<br>And we will save our Princess  
>Once and for all<br>And see you two bad guys fall!_"

Mario fired a few more fireballs, distracting Oogie Boogie. Luigi then whistled to get his attention, and released the chain, causing the hammer to go swinging right into Oogie Boogie's face.

Jack then leaped onto another platform as well, and struck Oogie Boogie with Soul Robber repeatedly.  
>"<em>I am Jack, the Pumpkin King<br>I will stop it nothing to save my future Pumpkin Queen  
>And save our town of Halloween<br>To put a stop to your evil plans!_"

Putting out the fire, but feeling weaker, since his seams were slowly coming apart, Oogie Boogie tried one last ditch effort by hitting another switch.  
>"<em>Try as you may<br>You'll only fall further downhill  
>Once you're gone we'll have our fill!<em>  
>S<em>o just give up now!<em>"

A guillotine came careening down toward Jack, who dodged out of the way. Flying blades flew at Mario, who ducked. A spinning blade of spikes rotated along toward Luigi, who jumped right over it to avoid its blow.

They then prepared one last attack.

"NEVER!"

Mario fired fireballs, Luigi tossed crates, Jack struck with Soul Robber, and then had it do one more little thing. One single thread was brought back as Soul Robber retracted yet again. Now that he had the thread, he nodded yet again to Mario and Luigi.

Luigi leaped down, keeping close but far enough to the dreaded being. Mario hit a switch on the wall, which lowered the platform slowly. Luigi then crept over to Oogie Boogie, and delivered a swift kick to his side, which sent him plummeting down the hole that was formed as the platform lowered.

"This is it, Oogie! No more from you!" Jack snarled and pulled on the thread as hard as he could. Since Oogie was falling, the seam easily came completely undone, and Jack let go of it once it did.

"Nooo! No! Not this again! Not my bugs!" Oogie Boogie wailed as his burlap formatting came apart. "My bugs!"

Mario leaped down and rejoined his brother and Jack as the three regrouped and peered down the hole for a moment as the bugs all plummeted down below, thus ending the undead life of the foul tyrant. They all let out relieved sighs, glad to see that they had accomplished their task in defeating Oogie Boogie now. One down, one to go. The only thing now standing in their way of saving the Princesses and both their lands, was none other than Bowser.

Jack smiled, looking toward the brothers. "Good work. We did it."

"We did!" Luigi grinned, giving a thumbs-up.

"Uh-huh!" Mario nodded, grinning as well. "Just one more thing."

"Yes! Save the Princesses!" Luigi added in.

"And defeat that foul Bowser." Jack put in as well. "We have to find a way to the roof."


	10. Now or Never!

**Here it is, folks! Oogie Boogie is down, and now all that is left is Bowser! Will Mario, Luigi and Jack save the Princesses, and the Mushroom Kingdom and Halloween Tow?**

**...Duh.**

**XD**

**The staircase, yes, is a mild reference from **_**Super Mario 64**_**, or even **_**Super Mario 64 DS**_**, in which you had to climb endless stairs in order to get to the final Bowser battle to save Peach. **

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Today's song is <strong>_**Now Or Never**_**, the last song in the story! ...At least, until the short one that will be in epilogue. :) **

_Now Or Never _~-~Bowser, Mario, Luigi and Jack

* * *

><p>With Oogie Boogie out for the count, our heroes now made their way to the rooftop of the castle. Twink had made it out of the cage that he was in , and found the brothers and Pumpkin King, telling them that Bowser was indeed on the roof, with the cage that held the Princesses. He was waiting for them...and surely determined that they would not win.<p>

It had taken all of Mario and Luigi's strengths not to roll their eyes. Bowser was, and always would be, overconfident.

Then again, it did remind them not to get overconfident, either. While they may have defeated Oogie Boogie, let alone making it this far, they were still a far cry from safety, saving the girls, and then going back home. Now was not the time. They had plenty to do before they could officially feel victorious.

In time, they did come to a door that into a round room, looking to be one of the towers. Inside the room was a spiral staircase going up. They had to crane their heads back just to see how far it could possibly have been going. Further up was delved in shadows, making it seem dark and endless, obviously an indication that it went up pretty high. Whether or not it would lead them to the roof was beyond them. None the less, it was time to make a choice. Either to go up the stairs to see where it would lead, or to turn back and find another way.

If they did go up, and it didn't lead to the roof, then it would at the very least lead them to a higher floor. With that, they would be able to find a roof access passage and get up there faster.

If they didn't, it would likely take forever to find any stairs, or even stairs that would lead to the roof. Then again, it could have also been a trap either way.

Jack stepped forward then, looking up again into the darkness that the staircase seemed to disappear into. "I do have a strange feeling about this...but I cannot help but wonder if it will lead us to where we need to go."

"W-W-We c-c-c-could just find another way..." Luigi said shakily.

"Come on." Mario grabbed his brother's arm and led him to the stairs. "We'll take-a the stairs."

Jack nodded, taking the stairs at least four at a time, given that his long legs offered a very quick stride and also the ability to reach higher steps. Mario and Luigi followed after him, breaking into brisk walks in order to keep up as much as they could. Just as they had thought, as they went further and further up, the staircase seemed so endless. Like an endless abyss.

But that didn't stop them. The trio pressed on, going up and up and up and up the seemingly endless spiral staircase leading to who-knows-where. Nothing was going to stop them now, not when they made it this far, and not when the very well-beings of not only their respective Princesses, but also their lands were at stake. As said before, it was time to put a stop to this madness once and for all.

Up, up, up they went.

Finally, they reached the top of the staircase, with Mario and Luigi having to stop to catch their breaths. As Jack waited, he took a look around and saw a door ahead of them. Surprisingly, there was a sign on it that read _**ROOFTOP ACCESS**_. He wondered, was this truly the roof access door? Or was this a trap? From what he found in Bowser's Castle so far, you could never be too careful.

Did it lead to the roof? Or did it just lead to another floor, or worse, a deep dark hole that would send them plummeting to their deaths?

Jack motioned for them to wait, and approached the door slowly. He grasped the knob, turned it, and then pulled it open. Peering out beyond the threshold, there was no hole, and there was no familiar carpeted flooring. Instead, it lead to a stone walkway, leading to a smaller flight of stairs, that lead to...the roof. It really was the roof access door, after all.

"Let's go, it leads to the roof!" Jack told them.

"Okay!" Mario nodded. "Ready, Luigi?"

"No." Luigi said with a shudder.

"Thought so." Mario said, shaking his head.

The three stepped outside, and went up the small staircase, coming out onto a large, expansive rooftop. Above them, the sky was a deep red with decimation, dark storm clouds rolling in, lightning striking, and all around them the air felt heavy and oppressive, despite the winds.

A large shadow fell over them, making them scurry out of the way in a panic, just as they came to see that Bowser had landed on the roof. The mighty Koopa King laughed maniacally, sneering at them with great devious evilness.

"Well! So you all made it!" Bowser cackled. "I'm surprised you're not burnt to a crisp! But that's okay, it can be arranged, of course."

"You cad!" Jack snarled with pure venom. "_Where_ are the Princesses?.! What have you done to them?.!"

"T-T-Tell us now!" Luigi chimed in, despite his frightened stutter.

"Or you will pay!" Mario pointed a finger at him, narrowing his eyes.

"Geez, would you quit getting your hats in a knot? They're over here!" Bowser stepped aside, revealing the cage the girls were held in.

"Mario! Luigi!" Peach cried in happiness.

"Peach!" Both brothers said in unison with relieved smiles.

"Jack!" Sally exclaimed in relieved happiness.

"Sally!" Jack managed, relieved that she was all right.

"They made it!" Said Twink, twirling a bit.

But that wasn't the only problem at hand. The heroes were horrified to discover that the cage was actually being _suspended over the edge of the roof!_ The fall alone would kill Peach, but the drop looked to be right over the pool of boiling lava far down below. Jack felt his bones shatter in terror as he realized the only true way to kill Sally was to set her on fire and let it burn. And if she fell into that lava...it would be the end of her.

As terrified as they were, the Mario brothers couldn't help but feel that this was very out of character for Bowser to do. Sure, he was very much an evil being and kidnapped Princess Peach or whoever it seemed convenient to capture, but he wasn't a sadist to them. Not completely, anyway. And since when did he actually attempt to have his captives, let alone Princess Peach, fall to their death?

This was likely just a trick to scare everyone. It made Jack think of something Oogie Boogie would do. If anything, it reminded him all too well of the time he had seen that Oogie Boogie had Sandy Claws and (much to his horror at the time) and Sally tied up onto a table, up-righting it so that they would fall to their deaths into the boiling acidic substance pit. Oogie Boogie was probably behind that scheme, but given what he'd heard about from Bowser, it seemed unlikely that he wanted to kill them, especially Peach.

It had to be a scare tactic.

"But enough of these stupid delays! Now it's battle time!" Bowser roared, stomping one foot onto the roof ground. "Prepare to be crushed!"

"I'm not afraid of you! I am the Master of Fright, and nothing will deter me in the slightest!"

"I've beaten you many times before, so don't think I won't try to do it again!"

"I may be a coward, but I will never back down when it comes to helping my friends! You're going down, Bowser!"

"Bring it on, you measly wimps!

Mario brothers!  
>And you too, <em>Jack<em>  
>You made it this far<br>It'd be wise for you to turn back!" Bowser let out a roar and blew his fiery breath toward them.

"_Try as you might  
>Nothing you say will stop us now<br>It's the end of the line!  
>We won't let you win this time!<em>" Jack twirled Soul Robber like a lasso as he dodged the fiery breath.

Mario dodged as well, looking for an opening he could use.  
>"<em>Too late now, Bowser!<br>Release the Princesses!  
>Your ways of power are all wrong!<br>Begone!_"

"_Brave as I'm not  
>I refuse to be nothing but prey!<br>We'll make you go away!  
>It's now or never!<em>" Luigi leaped out of the way of the oncoming stream of fire, managing to land safely away from it.

"Now or never  
>It's time to do you wretched plumbers in<br>This time you won't win  
>Princess Peach will be MINE!" Bowser cackled, jumping into the air and coming right back down, causing a violent tremor.<p>

Although the three of them fell to the ground from the shaken ground, it didn't take them long to leap to their feet yet again, joining in singing together.  
>"<em>Stop this now!<br>We've had enough of this!  
>You can taunt us all you want<br>But we'll never back down!_"

Bowser only laughed menacingly.

"It's now or never  
>You wretched plumbers, skeleton man<br>Turn back now, enough meddling with our plan!  
>I've told you once I'll say it again, begone!<p>

"_I'll save my dearest Sally no matter what it takes!_" Jack managed to launch Soul Robber toward the Koopa King with force, striking him in the face.

"GAAAAH!" Bowser cried, covering his face. "My eyes! You wretches! Where are you?.!.?"

"_We'll save the Princess Peach no matter what you say!_" Mario threw his hammer to Luigi, giving a thumbs-up.

Luigi grinned and caught it. "_And we'll make you pay!_" He struck Bowser's knees, making him fall forward onto the ground. "Go, Mario!"

Mario immediately grabbed Bowser's tail, picking him up off the ground and twirling around in a circle. He went a few times, before releasing him. Bowser went flying between two towers, just as lightning struck. With ingenuity, Jack launched Soul Robber to latch onto one of the flagpoles, which caught the electric chargest of the lightning. Bowser flew right into it, and once he made contact with the charged slime, he was electrocuted. Jack was also, but given that he used his electric chair at home, he was more than immune to the electric charges.

Bowser then was propelled backwards, as if he had flown into a giant rubber band, and fell onto his back onto the roof. He then got up, facing the three again. "Dream on! You'll never win this time!" He then blew his fiery breath at them yet again.

"_Stop at once!  
>There will be consequences!<br>And that I promise, this is true!  
>We have done much, and now we're after you!<em>" Jack dodged the fire yet again, twirling Soul Robber.

"_Learn your lesson you cad  
>There's mayhem to be had<br>If you don't stop this now  
>And turn the Princesses loose<em>!" Mario rolled out of the way of the oncoming flames, just barely avoiding them.

Luigi leaped into the air again, landing away from the flames.

"_We'll never give up  
>It's now or never, Bowser<br>And we won't back down  
>Together, we can overtake your power!<em>"

Bowser cackled yet again and jumped into the air, landing on the ground again. This time though, his enemies only leaped before he landed so they would not absorb the impact.

"GWAHAHA! Don't make me laugh!  
>Full of big talk, that's what you've got!<br>I do what I do, and I like it a lot!  
>You can't stop me now!"<p>

Readying their next attack, the trio sang together yet again.  
>"<em>Stop this now!<br>We've had enough of this!  
>You can taunt us all you want<br>But we'll never back down!_"

"It's now or never  
>You wretched plumbers, skeleton man<br>Turn back now, enough meddling with our plan!  
>I've told you once I'll say it again, begone!"<p>

"_I'll save my dearest Sally no matter what it takes!_" Jack yet again launched Soul Robber at Bowser's face, blinding him for a moment.

"_We'll save the Princess Peach no matter what you say!_" Mario hurried behind Bowser before he could be seen.

"_And we'll make you pay!_" Luigi struck Bowser's knees with the hammer again.

Bowser roared in pain and fell onto the ground again. Mario grabbed his tail, spun him around, and sent him flying.

"So long, Bowser!"

Bowser crashed into one of the towers, and then he fell back onto the ground of the roof in a daze. He got back up again, roared in anger, and stomped toward the heroes angrily. "Now or never!"

"_Now or never!_"

"_Now or never!_"

"_Now or never!_"

"_It's now or never!_" They all finished.

Mario considered his next move, but then he smiled toward Luigi, allowing him to do it this time. "Go on, Luigi."

"Take-a this!" Luigi tried a new tactic, and tossed the hammer at Bowser's head.

"GAH! OW!" Bowser roared in agony, clutching his head.

"I've got you now!" Jack launched Soul Robber to latch onto a nearby pole, hanging a few inches off the ground.

This caused Bowser to trip over it, falling to the ground yet again. Mario rushed in, grabbing onto Bowser's Tail and twirled him around and around and around before letting go. This time, he went sailing over the edge!

"So long, Bowser!" Mario called after him.

"Yahoo! We did it! We did it!" Luigi jumped for joy as he pumped his fists. "You did it, Mario!"

"_We _did it!" Mario corrected.

"Well done! It looks like we trounced him now!" Jack exclaimed. "Come on! Let's save the girls!"

"All right!" Mario and Luigi agreed, and they rushed toward the chain that was holding the cage back.

"Oh, you did it! We knew you would!" Peach gushed happily. "You were amazing! Thank you so much!"

"You made it through, I was so sure you would. We're sorry to have put you through this!" Sally uttered with a teary smile.

"Don't apologize, dear Sally!" Jack said passionately, unable to keep from smiling. "It's all right, you're safe now, and that's what matters!"

"I don't think so, you so-called _heroes_!" Came an all-too familiar voice from behind them.

Mario, Luigi and Jack turned around in unison and were shocked to find a battered Bowser now coming toward them in his Koopa Clown Car, and the spirit of Oogie Boogie was floating alongside him!

"How can this be?.! We had defeated you!" Jack was shocked at first, before it melted into malice.

"So you think!" Oogie Boogie cackled. "But I live on, Jack! As long as I'm around, my good friend Bowser can keep going on!"

"No! This can't be!" Luigi wailed.

"Oh no..." Mario groaned.

"No! No, please, stop this!" Peach pleaded.

"Jack...!" Sally whimpered.

But it was no use. All hope was lost. There was nothing more they could do now.


	11. A Plea To The Stars

**This is the final, final chapter! After this will be an epilogue, of course!**

**Well, it has been quite a fun journey. :) I sure hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!**

**Also, I know New Years isn't a door...but it works better! ...Kinda.**

**Oh, and I know Jack says "God" in this, but that's because in the movie he DID actually say "By God" in his "Poor Jack" song. XD**

**Yes, the bit with the stars...is taken right from **_**Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door**_**. :) I loved that scene in the game, and the music was so beautiful, it just blew me away. I was waiting FOREVER to do it, and now I can!**

**Enjoy! :D**

* * *

><p>"No...No! We can't give up now!" Peach cried, looking tearful as well. "Brave Mario...valiant Luigi..."<p>

"Dearest Jack..." Sally moaned. "If only we could do something to help..."

Twink, feeling terrible that the girls were saddened by this yet again, looked up to the sky. And that was when he saw a ray of hope. The decimation of the sky was breaking apart! The clouds were drifting away, and he could see the night sky shining through, all of the stars! It had to be the Star Spirits, along the power of the Crystal Stars coming through!

"Princess Peach, Princess Sally! I have an idea! The sky is clearing, so make a wish!" Twink told them. "Mario, Luigi and Jack...and both lands, no, our entire worlds, they all need you! Make a wish to help them! This time the stars should pull through!"

"A wish..." Peach reminisced to the time that she had made a wish to the Star Spirits to help Mario in breaking through the invincibility barrier thanks to the Star Rod Bowser had stolen, and how it had come through. "Yes! Yes! We'll make a wish!"

"A wish. Yes, let's make a wish." Sally could see where this was going, and decided it was better than nothing. After all, in the past she had made plenty of wishes upon the stars, hoping to find a way out of her old prison.

Both girls clasped their hands and lowered their heads, as if praying, as they wished with all their might and will, hoping that this would go through and help in saving everyone and everything. Sparkling matter surrounded them, seeming to arise beyond their bounds in the cage, rising toward the sky.

A bright light then shone from the sky!

"Whoa!" Mario cried.

"Waaah!" Luigi jumped.

"What...is this?" Jack blinked, taken aback.

"What the? This wasn't part of the plan!" Bowser huffed.

It was then, within the beautiful holy light, that shapes began to take place. Fourteen of them, and all were in the shape of stars! Stars that seemed to take living, moving forms, and among them were glowing, sparkling, crystallized, solid stars of different colours!

"Mario! Look! It's the Crystal Stars!" Luigi pointed up to them. "And the Star Spirits!"

"Oh!" Mario gaped.

"Oh my!" Peach exclaimed. "It worked! Our wishes worked!"

"Oooohhh..." Sally blinked a few times, amazed at the sight. "That's amazing...!"

That was when the stars all flew off into different directions, spreading out along the landscape.

* * *

><p>The Seven Crystal Stars all came down in a perfect circle before the Holiday Doors, forming in front of them.<p>

The Diamond Crystal star disappeared through the Christmas Town door.

The Emerald Crystal Star disappeared through the St. Patrick's Town door.

The Gold Crystal Star disappeared through the Thanksgiving Town door.

The Ruby Crystal Star disappeared through the Valentine Town door.

The Sapphire Crystal Star disappeared through the Easter Town door.

The Garnet Crystal Star disappeared through the Halloween Town door.

And finally, the Crystal Crystal Star disappeared through the New Year's Eve door.

* * *

><p>In Halloween Town, the denizens were all gathered within the town square at the fountain, trying to have it find Jack. But there was no such luck! Nothing worked, where he was just didn't show up. It terrified them to think, what if he was dead for good now? The Mayor was in hysterics!<p>

And then...

The Garnet Crystal Star lowered down above the fountain, glittering and sparkling brightly as it hovered in midair.

"What is that?"

"Some kind of star!"

"It's so pretty!"

"What a perfect colour!"

"What's it doing here?"

"Is it some kind of a trick?"

"I want to touch it!"

"Me first!"

"I saw it first!"

"Liar! I want to touch it!"

"Make way!"

"That's awesome!"

"Ohhh! Everyone, look!" Fishgal suddenly said, pointing to the fountain.

Everyone peered into the fountain, seeing that the image of Jack had then appeared! They saw him clearly now, and it seemed that the Crystal Star was trying to tell them something.

"Jack! Jack's in trouble!" The Mayor realized. "And Sally, too! That's why he went out to find her! And...Oogie Boogie is back!"

"Oh no! How terrible!" Helgamine uttered in horror.

"We should do something!" Offered Zeldaborne.

"But what can we do?" Said one of the Vampire brothers.

"Arf! Arf!" Said Zero.

"You can do it, Jack! You can save her! Defeat those monsters! You're the Pumpkin King!" The Mayor yelled.

"Go, Jack!"

"We're here for you!"

"Save Sally!"

"Save our future Queen!"

"And defeat that Oogie Boogie!"

"All in the name of Halloween!"

"You can do it, Jack!"

"We're here to support you!"

"Always and forever!"

"You're the Pumpkin King!"

"You the man, Jack!"

* * *

><p>Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, that was when everyone heard the voices! Voices coming from all over! Jack recognized voices from Halloween Town, all the citizens, and the Mayor, and even Zero! They all somehow could see what was happening!<p>

"You're the Pumpkin King, Jack!"

"We love you!"

"Save your Princess!"

"Defeat that monster once and for all!"

"Scare him away once and for all!"

"Jack, if anyone can stop evil and bring justice upon us all, you can!" Came the voice of Santa Claus as well.

Mario and Luigi could hear the voices of the many people across the Mushroom Kingdom, much to their surprise as well! It was reminiscent, to Mario and even Peach, when he was battling the Shadow Queen, and the power of the Crystal Stars had everyone he knew shouting their support to him.

The very same thing was happening again!

"Go on, Mario!"

"You can do it!"

"Mario and Luigi, you both are heroes!"

"I totally believe in you, Mario!"

"You go, Gonzales! You're always number one!"

"Dear Mario, I know you can do it, you dear boy!"

"I support you very much, Mario!"

"Um...Mario, if you can, please do you best!"

"Good luck, old boy!"

"Mmmm, you can take them down, you handsome hunk of cheese!"

"I will support you, amigo!"

"Gonzales, as I said before, NO ONE who's beaten me can lose! You got that?"

"Luigi!"

"Go Luigi!"

"Mario and Luigi, the Super Mario Brothers!"

"Luigi!" Came Daisy's voice. "You better come visit me soon! I'll be waiting!"

"Daisy..." Luigi uttered softly, smiling.

Peach joined in as well to encourage them. "I'll bake you a cake, Mario! You too, Luigi!"

Both Mario and Luigi beamed happily at her. "Thank you, Peach!"

"Jack!" Sally then said. "Remember, when we get home...we'll sit by the fire and read together!"

"Sally..." Jack felt his bones just want to burst with happiness at her little callback to what she had said they could do when he came home that day... "We will, Sally! That's a promise!"

As the voices faded away, our heroes looked to one another, all smiling and nodded. They felt nothing short of rejuvenated. Ready to take on Bowser again!

"Let's do this." Said Jack.

"Right! We'll bring him down now." Mario agreed.

"We can do it!" Luigi said bravely.

The three of them stepped toward Bowser, who hopped out of his vehicle and landed back on the roof.

"Gwahahaha! Don't think you'll get me this time!" He sneered.

Luigi then had an idea. He whispered it lowly to Mario and Jack, who immediately agreed to it.

"So, any last words before your demise?" Bowser cackled, readying to fire.

"Not at all! In fact, we're just getting started!" Jack announced.

"Uh-huh!" Mario agreed, finding his hammer and tossing it to Luigi.

"It's not over, Bowser!" Luigi declared, catching the hammer.

"Gwahahaha! Go ahead and throw that into my face!" Bowser laughed. "I'll be expecting it this-OOF!"

Luigi had instead stuck his knees again, making him fall over. Jack leaped into action, striking him several times with Soul Robber as it took on the shape of different melee weapons to hit him with. Mario, meanwhile, took the time to shove the vehicle over the edge of the roof, sending it plummeting into the lava below, preventing Bowser from ever using it again.

Now that Bowser was fallen and weakened again, Mario rushed over and grabbed his tail, twirling him around and around and around, just like before! Letting go, he sent him flying over the edge of the roof, and this time careening down into the pool of lava down below.

"So long, Bowser!"

"Good riddance!"

The Mario brothers slapped a high five, and Jack jogged over to them, all three of them grinning again.

"Yes! We did it this time!" Mario proclaimed.

"I sure don't think he'll be back again!" Jack agreed.

"No sir! Not with us around he won't!" Luigi nodded, grinning.

A pair of keys came flying in the air, which Mario caught. It didn't take either of them long to figure out what the keys were for!

"Come on!" Mario hurried over so they could secure the cage onto the roof.

Once the cage was secured onto the roof, Mario unlocked the cage door, setting the girls free. They thanked Mario, and Sally immediately hurried into Jack's arms, hugging him tightly. Peach happily hugged Mario and Luigi at the same time in an impromptu group hug.

"Jack, thank you...!" Sally uttered in utmost gratitude, and kissed Jack on the cheek. "You were all wonderful in defeating those fiends. I'll never stop being so thankful for this, Jack..."

"Oh, Sally..." Jack said with pure happiness, his grin growing. "And I'll never back down from trying to save you if you're ever in danger. Now you're all right! It's over, darling, it's over. We can go home now, you're safe."

"Oh, Jack..." Sally kissed him lightly, bringing her arms around his neck. Normally, she was shy to even cuddle in public, but today, she didn't care.

Peach, Mario and Luigi looked on with smiles, seeing the adorable display of true love. Yes, a skeleton and a rag doll were definitely a strange, even mismatched pair, but that definitely didn't define the love they had. Their love was a real and true as can be, they could feel it in the air.

"Awwww..." Said Twink, still there with them. "They're so sweet together, aren't they?"

"They certainly are, Twink. I can't agree more." Peach beamed, and then turned to Mario and Luigi. "Thank you both for saving us. I'm so...so sorry of all the trouble you were put through. I only hope that my tokens of gratitude will let you know how thankful I am!"

"Why of course!" Said Luigi. "Right, Mario?"

"Uh-huh!" Mario nodded.

"And...um...Mario..." Peach shyly leaned downward and actually kissed Mario sweetly on the lips, then pulled away, blushing.

"Oh!" Mario's cheeks turned bright red as his hat and shirt.

Luigi laughed, and grinned at the display. It made him wish that he could have rescued Daisy, as well.

"Ohoohoohoo! Such a touching reunion, but you've forgotten me yet again!" Oogie Boogie's voice floated out, his spirit appearing before them. "So long as I roam this world, no one is safe!"

"We're not afraid of you, Oogie! There is some way to stop you, and by God we'll do so!" Jack warned, though he felt completely at loss for what they could possibly do against a spirit. None the less, he held Sally closer to him securely, afraid that she would get taken away again.

"Oh no! Mario, what are we going to do?" Peach held onto Mario in fear.

Even Mario was at loss for that they could do. All he could do was comfort Peach as much as he could.

Luigi trembled, unsure of what to do now. They really had no options! Fighting against a spirit was impossible! What could they do? He felt like running away and hiding, but knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't let his friends down! Or Daisy. Daisy would be so heartbroken...

Looking up to the slowly clearing sky for help, that was when Luigi saw a shooting star!

"_Luigi...Luigi...! Luigi, my boy! Can you hear me?_"

Luigi jumped, looking around for the source of the voice. He immediately recognized it! "P-Professor E. Gadd?"

"_Correct, my boy! Luigi, you seem to be in a pickle! Well Luigi, don't you think you might have something that could help?_"

"I...I...I don't know!" Luigi cried in shame. "What can I do?"

"_Remember your mansion! Remember..._" The professor's voice then faded away.

Mansion? What did he mean by-

And suddenly, Luigi knew exactly what to do.

_I wish for the Poltergust 3000!_

Right then, sparkling glitter manifested all around him, and materialized onto his back. As the sparkling cleared, it was revealed to be none other than his old friend that had helped him get through his haunted, ghost-infested mansion. The very thing he could use to stop this dreadful spirit. The Poltergust 3000! Luigi grinned, as he saw that it also came back with his flashlight! Much to his surprise, no one else seemed to notice what was going on!

Sally did, though. She was in awe of what was happening, and was speechless!

Taking his flashlight, Luigi ran toward the ghostly spirit of Oogie Boogie. "Hey! You! Oogie Boogie!"

"Hoo hoo hoo! You, you cowardly little man? You think you can stop me?" Oogie Boogie cackled.

"Take this!" Luigi shone his flashlight right at him.

"GYAAAAH! BURNIN' LIGHT!" Oogie Boogie screeched, now stunned.

"I've got you now!" Luigi activated the Poltergust 3000 and then aimed the hose right at him, sucking him in

"NOOOOOOOOOOO! LET ME GO!" Oogie Boogie fought against it, trying to flee, but it was no use by now.

Luigi struggled, nearly falling over as he tried to keep a hold of sucking him in, but boy did he hold on! It was as tough as trying to suck in the Portrait Ghosts, and even King Boo, for sure! But he was determined, determined to suck this being in and turn him into a painting!

"I'LL REMEMBER THIIIIIIISSSS!" Was his last shout before he disappeared completely into the vacuum.

"Haha!" Luigi grinned, twirling the hose of the vacuum and re-holstering it. He couldn't help but feel a strike of glee as he remembered that very night capturing those evil ghosts!

"Whoa!" Mario's eyes were wide as he let this all sink in. "Luigi..." He could not believe that his brother had actually managed to somehow conjure up the very machine he had used to save him in the haunted mansion! And that it stopped Oogie Boogie for good! "...Luigi, you did it! You saved the day!"

"Hahaha...I did?" Luigi blinked.

"That was brilliant, Luigi!" Jack praised with a grin. "However did you think to use that thing to stop him?"

"I...well I had to suck up these b-bad ghosts in a haunted mansion!" Luigi exclaimed. "Professor E. Gadd invented this to do that!"

"And saved me, in the process." Mario actually admitted.

"Amazing! Well done, Luigi! Thanks to you, Oogie Boogie is no more!" Jack grinned, and patted Luigi on the back.

"Aww...shucks..." Luigi brought his hands behind his back, kicking the ground a bit bashfully.

Peach giggled, smiling warmly. "Well Luigi, you certainly deserve a wonderful reward for your act of bravery and good thinking! Let's go everyone, and get out of this castle."

Everyone nodded, and headed for the tower that they had come in, ready to descend down the castle. Of course, they had to free Lock, Shock and Barrel before leaving!

It was all over. Bowser and Oogie Boogie were defeated, Peach and Sally were saved, and the Mushroom Kingdom, Halloween Town, and all of their worlds were safe. The worst was over, and our heroes could finally venture home safe and sound. No one would've thought that two plumbers and a skeleton, could actually work together like they had. But with their combined efforts, our heroes triumphed over the forces of evil and saved the day. Teamwork was initiated, friendships formed, and love continued to blossom beautifully. In all of this, they truly came out with something wonderful.

It wasn't always easy, and yet, our heroes braved the obstacles, and let nothing stop them from their objectives. Pure will and determination helped in part of carrying on.

Would anything ever to come pass to again? Would our heroes reunite for another adventure?

Only time will tell.


	12. Epilogue

**Here it is! :) The epilogue! Nothing but fluff, though. X3 I AM the Queen of Fluff, after all! ;)**

**So thank you all so much again! This story turned out very, very well and I'm happy with it. OwO I'm so happy that I managed to finish it! :D**

**Now, I bet you're all wondering...will I do a sequel? Or even another crossover with these two series?**

**Well, who knows? We'll see. :) I won't make any promises yet, but if I get good inspiration and a storyline, maybe! If not, I hope you'll like this as a stand-alone story. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p>At the Holiday Doors within Forever Forest, Mario, Luigi and Peach, Twink and Goombella were seeing off Jack and Sally as they were to head home through the Halloween Door. Lock, Shock and Barrel had already gone in ahead of them, and they stayed behind to say goodbye.<p>

"Jack, Sally...I want to thank the both of you." Peach said with a warm smile. "While trouble had come to pass, it's neither of your faults. In fact, I'm very glad it all happened, since it meant that we could meet you...and even have discovered these doors...which are fascinating. I wish you two the best of luck, and a safe journey home."

"Princess Peach, thank you, too." Sally gave a little curtsy toward her. "You not only tried to help me out the first time we met...but...you helped me gain the strength I needed to keep my head up high and to give them the strength they needed to come through. I'm very sorry for the trouble...but I am glad everything turned out well."

"And I of course must extend my thanks to you two, Mario and Luigi." Jack bowed to them. "If not for the two of you, I'd have been hopelessly lost in trying to find Bowser's Castle. I thank you from deep in my bones for helping me. And I hope you know that it was a pleasure being able to work with you both. You have displayed immense and wonderful strength and courage, which is just what helped us through."

"Thank you, Jack!" Luigi grinned. "We were glad to help! It was a great adventure! I sure hope we can do it again!"

Mario chuckled. "Really, you're welcome. And thank you too, for helping us when we, and the Mushroom Kingdom needed help, too. Our teamwork was seamless."

"You three did wonderful." Peach smiled.

"You definitely did! And come back again, Jack and Sally! We'd love to have you!" Goombella said. "My Professor wants to see you both again sometime!"

"We certainly will return again one day!" Jack grinned. "Now that we know of this place, we surely would love to discover more of it."

"Indeed, we'll certainly come back." Sally promised. "And Twink," She turned to the little star spirit. "Thank you for helping me, too. You were just what I had hoped for."

"Awww, no need to thank me, Princess Sally! It's what I do!" Twink blushed.

"It was wonderful seeing you again, Twink!" Peach smiled happily. "I'm so glad you had come to keep us company and help us stay strong."

Twink blushed some more and giggled. "Awww...you're too much! Well, I had better go now and get back to Star Haven. Princess Peach, Princess Sally, Mario, Luigi, Jack...goodbye!" He waved, and then rose up into the air toward the heavens.

They watched him go, before returning to the matter at hand.

"Goodbye, Jack and Sally...we hope to see you again!" Peach waved to them.

"Bye bye!" Luigi waved also. "We'll miss you!"

"Goodbye, and good luck!" Mario waved too.

"See you, guys!" Goombella hopped up and down happily.

"Goodbye, everyone! And thank you again!" Jack waved to them as well.

"Goodbye, thank you all..." Sally waved too.

Jack smiled, and turned to his lady love. "Shall we go, Sally?"

Smiling back, Sally took his hand. "Let's go home, Jack."

With a final farewell, Jack and Sally went to the Halloween door, opening it right up. Then Jack swept Sally into his arms bridal style and went right through the door.

"Well, I guess that's that!" Said Goombella. "Hey Mario, you guys mind coming back to the Professor's place? I'm sure he'd want to hear all about this!"

Mario nodded. "Of course!"

"Oh yes!" Luigi agreed. "We can tell him all about our big adventure!"

"Well, we'll have to put the tea on, as well." Peach giggled, and took Mario's hand. "Shall we go, too?"

The four of them all laughed and headed out of the forest to get back to town, as well.

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><p>Now back in Halloween Town, Jack and Sally's arrival did not go unnoticed by the townsfolk, as they now could see that they were back!<p>

"Jack's back!"

"Jack?"

"He made it?"

"He's okay?"

"Jack's okay!"

"And Sally, too!"

"All right, all right everyone!" Jack coaxed, unable to keep from smiling. "We've made it home safe and sound!"

"Arf arf!" Zero hurried to his master's side happily.

"Zero!" Jack happily patted his head. "And I must thank you for your help too! If not for you, I would never have found the door!"

"Jack! You made it!" The Mayor came waddling over.

"Of course, Mayor! I did say I would be back once I found my dear Sally!" Jack proclaimed. "All is well now!"

"Splendid! Then this calls for a celebration! Everyone, gather 'round! It's time to celebrate their return!" The Mayor cued up the local band, and made sure everyone was gathered around.

The party went on, with everyone singing and dancing and playing games, congratulating Jack on saving the day and also bringing Sally back. Speaking of, poor Jack had been so caught up telling the story, and surrounded by everyone, he only just realized she was no longer by his side! She hadn't been for quite some time. He looked around for her, and just about caught her going through the gate toward the cemetery. He smiled, reminiscing about their first Christmas...how she had done just that.

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><p>Sally, meanwhile, ascended to Spiral Hill. Much like before. Though, unlike the first time, when she just wanted to be alone, and make a wish to the stars that Jack would notice her...she this time went, waiting for him. She knew he would eventually find out she was gone and follow her. When he did, and came here, she'd be waiting.<p>

Moreover, though, she was glad to be home again. Admittedly, she already missed the Mushroom Kingdom, even if most of it was spent either locked away in a tower or in a cage. And she missed Peach's company, as well. Even so, it was just another incentive to go back sometime!

Sally then gently plucked the petals of a flower, smiling to herself, again reminiscing that very Christmas night.

"_My dearest love_..." Jack's soothing, gentle singing then floated toward her from behind, indicating his presence. "_I will stop it nothing, to keep you safe_..."

With a happy smile, Sally turned around, coming to see Jack slowly ascending Spiral Hill toward her. Just like the first two times they had done this. The first being on Christmas, when they finally came together, and the second time being when Jack just departed into the Hinterlands, and they had sung about setting things right.

So, Sally stood up and smiled lovingly at him as he continued his ascent.

"_That you need never fear_..."

"_And we'll come together, now and forever_..." Sally sang sweetly along with him.

Jack continued ascending toward her, already stricken by how beautiful she looked in the luminous glow of the moonlight. Even to this day, nearly two years into their loving courtship, her haunting beauty caught in the moonlight never ceased to amaze him every time.

"_For it is true, though bad times are to be_..." They both sang, and Jack now held his hands out for her to take, which she did as he approached her. "_That our love will set us free_..."

Lowering their hands, the two lovers came together in a warm embrace, sharing a kiss upon Spiral Hill together. Just as they did twice before upon the end of their adventures. From a distance, Zero looked on with a smile.

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><p>In the long run, plenty of things had come to happen.<p>

To begin with, even Luigi was officially proclaimed a hero in all of this. Not only did he contribute along on the adventure, but he had also played a special part in defeating the dreaded Oogie Boogie once and for all. He of course brought his spirit to be turned into a painting, which Professor E. Gadd was happy to do. He finally got a lot more recognition than ever before, which was truly what he deserved. Mario had even stepped aside during the big ceremonial party to allow Luigi plenty of time in the spotlight and to make a speech. Peach had even made him the biggest cake he could have ever asked for, and Daisy had made him some of his favourite brownies as well. Not only that, but all the people knew they could count on him as well! It made Luigi feel pretty darn happy!

As well as that, Mario and Peach became a couple. Throughout the years, they had indeed given off vibes to one another, but there was always some kind of a shyness barrier between them, and even so, the way they acted most of the time, it was as if they were a couple going out a long time. But this was when they finally just stepped up to it. Peach made an announcement during the celebration, which brought on plenty of cheers of absolute joy and even shouts of "FINALLY!" amongst others.

Twink even got a little something as well! He was finally promoted from being an apprentice, novice star child, into a full grown Star Spirit! He became the guardian Star Spirit who helped to grant wishes to people in need of help. His sweet deeds were recognized all the more, and he truly grew up for it.

Bowser was defeated, but he still wasn't giving up! None the less, he did need some downtime, of course. Kammy Koopa was currently healing his wounds, trying all she could to calm him down.

Oogie Boogie was a painting! Lock, Shock and Barrel kept his painting in their treehouse. They threw darts at it, and drew on it with permanent markers. Speaking of the three, they just went back to the way they were before Oogie had cursed them.

Over within the Holiday worlds, the other Holiday Leaders all offered gracious thanks to Jack (and the Mario brothers, though they were not present) for saving them yet again, which took place during an impromptu council meeting. Santa Claus even shook Jack's hand and congratulated him for the success of the adventure. Jack was quite humbled by it all, but said that he didn't deserve all the credit, and thanked Mario and Luigi, as well as Princess Peach, saying he could not have done this without their help. He even then extended his thanks to Sally, who had come with him to this meeting, for being as strong as she could and helping with a wish. Sally had blushed and mumbled a "You're welcome" while staring shyly at her lap. Jack then gave her a hug in front of everyone, bringing forth a chorus of "Awwwwwww..."

Halloween Town as a whole was now safe and back to normal since Jack and Sally had returned. The Mayor had managed to hold down the fort, with everyone pitching in. A town meeting had been held, where Jack finally got to tell the whole story to everyone at the same time, and also made note of the Mushroom Kingdom door. When asked if Jack would ever adventure with the Mario brothers again, Jack simply smiled. He certainly would.

On a final note, Jack was also preparing to do something very special. And that was to propose to Sally. A ring was made, and since Christmas was fast approaching, he knew exactly when to do that.

Overall, our heroes triumphed in so many ways. Would they come together again for another adventure? Only time will tell. But with that in mind, we can certainly see that they will if the time comes that they must do so.

**THE END.**


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